PublicTechnology.net

Government digital teams need to make more use of technical writers to help technology teams and allow others to concentrate on transformation, a Government Digital Service staffer has said.

The Socitm Better Connected survey has revealed that more than half of English county councils are not providing a good online service to help people sign up for e-resources.

Geoff Connell took up his role of CIO at Norfolk County Council in August last year. Rebecca Hill asks him how he found the change from the London Borough of Newham, and finds out what’s on his to-do list.

The Environment Agency has awarded a three-year, £5m contract to CGI to design, deliver and run its Future Flood Forecasting System for England.

Traditional recruitment methods are often not “proactive or productive enough” to attract the right candidates and need to be revised, a recruitment advisor at the Government Digital Service has said.

The prime minister Theresa May has announced plans to improve online advice and information on mental health and increase the use of digitally assisted therapies.

A third of UK council websites have not passed the first stage of Socitm’s annual test to assess their accessibility to people with disabilities.

The Government Digital Service has upgraded the public Application Programming Interface for GOV.UK Notify based on the results of user research carried out during its private beta.

The cross-government network for civil servants specialising in procurement is recruiting for a number of senior digital and technology roles for people, including the position of commercial director of IT for HMRC.

The Labour party has launched a consultation on its plans for a “people-centric” industrial strategy that it said would support workers in an era of rapid technological change.

The association of IT and digital professionals in local government has announced its plans for 2017 research and policy projects.

The latest annual report on the civil service fast stream has revealed that 34% of successful applications to the digital and technology fast stream in 2015 came from women – a slight decline from the previous year.

Oliver Morley, the chief executive of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, has been awarded a CBE in the New Year’s honours list.

As the New Year approaches, PublicTechnology takes a look at what we might expect in the world of digital government in 2017. 

Defence Equipment and Support, a trading entity of the Ministry of Defence, is recruiting for a chief information officer to develop IT strategy and make better use of emerging technologies.

More than 400,000 Scottish taxpayers did not receive a notification letter from HMRC in December last year due to an error in the design of an automated identification exercise, the UK’s spending watchdog has found.

That the long-awaited digital strategy has fallen by the wayside is not a surprise, but ministers must move to demonstrate their commitment to digital quickly, writes PublicTechnology's online editor Rebecca Hill. 

The Home Office service design team is building a common language help different teams in the department communicate more simply and clearly.

The Home Office has created a deputy director position on its live services team to manage a new strategic service desk and develop a cyber security operations centre.

Microsoft partner FlowForma walks through its efforts to empower local government as part of a series that highlights local government innovators across the UK

Microsoft partner CPS walks through its efforts to empower local government as part of a series that highlights local government innovators across the UK