PublicTechnology.net

£50m boost for renewables technology

Gary Flood — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:28:48 +0000

The government is investing £50m in a new centre to accelerate the commercialisation of green technologies.

The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult will be headquartered at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, with a second base at the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in the North East of England.

The centre will focus on technologies for offshore wind, wave and tidal power and is designed to bridge the gap between univ

Kent invests in tech to boost fire safety knowledge

Rachel Fielding — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:50:32 +0000

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) has invested in an integrated Premises Risk Management (PRM) system to boost business fire safety awareness across the county.

Developed by Microsoft Dynamics CRM reseller Optevia, the system allows technical fire safety officers and operations teams to check that Kent’s business premises owners and tenants have been certified, and are aware of specific fire safety regulations and risks that affect their businesses.

The wo

Three new regional e-crime hubs set up to battle cybercrime

Rachel Fielding — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:37:24 +0000

Three new regional policing e-crime hubs are to be launched today as law enforcers looks to boost its capability to tackle the growing threat of cybercrime.

The three new units will initially each comprise of three staff members (detective sergeant and two detective constables), and will generating their own investigations, but also operate in a supporting capacity to the Metropolitan Police Centre e-crime Unit (PCeU), established in October 2008 as part of the National e-Crime Programme.

Viewpoint: Gail Wilson, Achilles

Gary Flood — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:36:11 +0000

Gail Wilson of procurement professional services specialist Achilles worries why there are so many supplier challenges going to court

Supplier challenges are on the rise.

Public say security needs can trump personal data integrity

Rachel Fielding — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:03:26 +0000

Nearly half of the British public would be prepared to share personal data with the Police in return for enhanced personal security against criminal or terrorist attacks - but are less keen on doing it with HMG.

A survey of more than 2,000 UK adults conducted by online pollsters YouGov found that people trust law enforcement with their personal information far more than they trust the government.

The study, commissioned by business intelligence specialist SAS, found that 37% claimed they would be prepared to share with border/c

Intellect calls for 'bootstrap' recovery based on technology

Gary Flood — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:57:12 +0000

Trade body for the UK hi-tech sector, Intellect, says the biggest obstacle to economic recovery isn’t the budget deficit – it’s our national lack of productivity.

Productivity growth rates have fallen significantly since the recession and need to increase by 30% for the UK to return to its previous levels of GDP growth, claims the group – a drop which looks even worse if the body is correct that productivity stalled in 2008 after 20 years of improvement.

“We have to turn what risks being a lost dec

Do you know what 'operational efficiency' is?

Gary Flood — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:59:00 +0000

What does the concept of operational efficiency mean to you? Is it running what you have now ‘better’? Is it more about slashing and burning and outsourcing as much as you can?

The CloudStore - ready to open its doors

Stuart Lauchlan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:28:32 +0000

The Government G-Cloud App Store is on its way - and it's going to be called: The CloudStore.

According to the Cabinet Office, The CloudStore will be the catalogue of services and suppliers on the G-Cloud Framework, the aim of which is " to make it into a type of “e-marketplace” which contains details of the services, accreditation levels and enable buyers to make comparisons between services to facilitate intelligent and efficient purchasing for buyers and suppliers".

CSC grabs new leader from banking software sector

Rachel Fielding — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:55:03 +0000

The former head of financial software firm Misys is to take the reigns at beleaguered CSC, in a move welcomed by analysts as offering the best chance of the firm sorting out its current mess.

Misys CEO Mike Lawrie has secured a new job with the services giant as President and CEO after it was announced that his former supplier and fellow banking specialist Temenos had finally agreed the terms of a merger that will create the largest vendor of banking software, valued at around £2bn.

Anthony Miller, managing partner

What do NHS IT leaders want most? Disaster recovery

Rachel Fielding — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:43:14 +0000

Disaster recovery is the number one health IT investment priority, above other areas such as archiving, virtualisation, Cloud computing and digitising paper records, a survey has suggested.

The study asked healthcare IT professionals from all over the world about their ongoing strategies for managing their hospital's IT systems.

UNIT4 launches educational shared service platform

Rachel Fielding — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:22:29 +0000

An agreement between the University of London Computer Centre and supplier UNIT4 is to offer a shared services platform for educational institutions across the UK.

The organisations claim the agreement is the first of its kind, where an educational establishment and a vendor jointly provide enterprise software as a shared service.

The shared services offering to Further and Higher Education Institutions will be based on the Agresso Campus Platform, which includes a portfolio

Manchester Fire dumps legacy for new unified system

Rachel Fielding — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:07:49 +0000

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is consolidating a range of legacy systems into a new management system that it says will increase public safety by tracking and improving fire information across the region.

The implementation of Active Solutions’ Connect, based on Microsoft Dynamics 2011, will replace several outdated legacy systems and integrate with GMFRS’s remaining IT infrastructure to provide a more centralised data management platform for information relating to Comm

FE colleges increasingly keen on sharing services - survey

Rachel Fielding — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:53:06 +0000

Demand for shared services is set to increase as research reveals ‘cost-cutting’ and ‘increasing efficiency’ are key priorities for the further education sector.

An poll of over 270 financial directors at FE institutions across the UK highlights growing interest in how collaborative strategies and Cloud-based technology can contribute to lowering costs and increasing efficiencies.

Around half of the finance directors interviewed said that their top goal over the next 12 months would be ‘cost-cuttin

Rochdale's Web-based procurement approach opens up £100m of business to local firms

Rachel Fielding — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:40:32 +0000

Rochdale Borough Council is using the Web to make it easier and faster for local companies to do business with it - a move that it says is slashing the time to process contracts and reducing costs.

For the last three years the authority has published all its potential business opportunities online.

MPs may all get their own iPads

Gary Flood — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:43:17 +0000

Members the House of Commons could be issued iPads in a move to improve MP access to data on the fly.

The cross-party Administration Committee has now recommended the "rapid roll-out of suitable mobile tablet hardware" to all 650 MPs, arguing such a move could help cut printing costs and “modernise” the working of the House, following a successful trial by 16 members of the group.

“It seems that this is the future, for the convenience in term

New high-level training for Whitehall buyers and project managers

Gary Flood — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:23:21 +0000

Civil servants are to get focused training in leadership and project management, according to the Cabinet Office, outlining plans for a new Major Projects Leadership Academy to create a new generation of clued-up Whitehall project managers.

The institution, to be created and delivered in partnership with Oxford's Saïd Business School and consultants Deloitte, will build the skills of senior project leaders across government to deliver complex projects – reducing the over-reliance on expensive external consultancy further and building expertise wit

Maude: 'data sharing key to beating billions lost to Exchequer'

Gary Flood — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:36:49 +0000

Better data sharing will be key to a new cross-government strategy that will drive changes in culture and behaviours across all government Departments to tackle fraud and error.

The prediction comes from Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, who said in a major speech this week that the UK can’t afford to waste any more money this way.

“Whitehall and other public bodies weren’t running a tight ship,” he lamented.

CIPS adopts new best procurement approaches

Gary Flood — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:55:23 +0000

The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) has committed to adopting the best practice of its US equivalent in a bid to boost the global drive to boost public sector.

It says combining its public sector knowledge with the expertise of US body the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) by adopting NIGP’s Values and Guiding Principles of Public Procurement will be an invaluable aid to all governments looking to beat the recession by more efficient procurement approaches.

CIPS is also acting as a

Bristol moving to IT-enabled housing service improvement

Gary Flood — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:39:38 +0000

Bristol City Council forecasts £2.7m worth of savings yearly out of a new IT-backed transformation of its housing services by 2014.

The authority is to start using an automated workforce management system for the department with a goal of improving the way its 28,000 property stock is repaired and maintained while also increasing tenant satisfaction with housing services.

Bristol’s partnering with Capgemini, who is working with supplier ClickSoftware Technolo

The ICT Professional: Rod Halstead, Cisco UK

Gary Flood — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:45:39 +0000

PublicTechnology.net met up with Rod Halstead, UK MD for all public sector activity at Cisco, to discuss the central fact of change

PublicTechnology.net

Can you give us a bit of CV to get us started, Rod?

Halstead

Of course. I’ve had 20 years working in the sector in both Britain and Australia in areas like government and health. I ran, for example, EDS’ government business in Australia for most of the last decade.