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Survey shows lack of preparedness as data protection watchdog slaps £60,000 fine on Norfolk County Council

The Home Office is seeking a “robust and charismatic” deputy director for Emergency Services Network Mobilisation.

MPs have urged the government to take a “concrete step” to greater transparency by creating a searchable database of meetings with businesses that extends to include senior civil servants.

Individual councils could save up to £80m on IT spend alone over the next decade by adopting common platforms like GOV.UK Verify, according to government estimates. 

The Government Digital Service’s notification service has gone live across all central government departments, with local government – and letters – next on the team’s list.

The government’s long-awaited Digital Strategy is expected to include £17m for artificial intelligence, a review of AI technologies and support for smart devices, cyber security and autonomous vehicles.

The government chief people officer Rupert McNeil has said that the civil service is using recruitment technology that is “40 or 50 years out of date” as the civil service announces plans to trial a cloud-based recruitment platform in efforts to tackle bias.

The government could change the public’s perception of big data projects by focusing on improving its marketing as well as increasing transparency, a conference has been told.

The Ministry of Justice’s commitment to code in the open by default has helped the department “hire great people”, the department’s head of technology has said.

The government’s Common Technology Services team is pitching itself as a central support and advice service for departments exiting both large and small IT contracts.

HMRC has said that it is "committed to Verify as the single identification service for individuals" after it emerged that the department is developing a separate identity assurance programme to the government's flagship GOV.UK Verify platform.

HMRC has said that it will develop its identity assurance solution to replace Government Gateway when it ends in March 2018 – rather than using the government’s flagship GOV.UK Verify.

The government's transformation strategy needs buy-in from the political top brass to drive the radical culture change that underpins the plan, writes PublicTechnology editor Rebecca Hill.

Senior managers in the public sector have said that data privacy, security and increasing regulations are all barriers to their organisations benefitting from mobile and digital technologies, according to a survey.

The Government Digital Service has launched a service toolkit that aims to be a one stop shop for service design resources.

Members of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee have called on the government to explain why the digital strategy “continues to be a work-in-progress” almost a year after it was first due.

A former NHS IT director at a Surrey NHS trust who accepted bribes in exchange for the award of IT contracts has been jailed for three and a half years.

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.

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has chosen Atos to be its primary ICT contractor as the company expands its work with the UK’s health sector.

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

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