UKAuthority.com - The leading independent publisher of public sector technology news.

G-Cloud honoured in datacentre industry awards

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:53:36 GMT

The government's G-Cloud programme has won the Datacentre Solutions Award 2013 for 'Public Cloud Project of the Year'.

In brief...

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:24:56 GMT

ODI urges rapid response to Shakespeare review; Collaboration essential says PSNGB; Over 7m adults remain offline

Contracts...

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:25:21 GMT

Aerial photography for Scotland; Atos win NS&I contract; Assisted Digital to go out to tender; Dft picks Azzurri IP telephony

UKAtv: Time to re-focus on IT procurement

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:40:07 GMT

The LGA is supporting a work stream looking at the procurement of IT in frontline organisations. The landscape at present is multiple and complex with different procurement groups and frameworks that can be used, says Siobhan Coughlan, LGA programme manager, which must be simplified. However, she adds, there is perhaps a more important piece of work where councils can come together to look at what they are buying, what they are paying and whether there are differences in pricing for similar specifications. A more intelligent and organised client with a core specification has benefits for suppliers too, she maintains, in terms of lower support and client management costs. New frameworks such as the G-Cloud hold great promise for the sector, she adds, but the service manager and others involved in procurement must have greater understanding of what they actually need to buy. "So we are buying what we need - not what we think we need or what a good salesman has sold us!"

Analysis: electronic prescribing: here we go again

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:34:50 GMT

Thirteen years on from the first government commitment to stop bad handwriting killing patients, the NHS has a new deadline for e-prescribing

Health secretary finds £260m for e-prescribing

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:48:05 GMT

Jeremy Hunt says the cash would help bring to an end outdated paper-based systems allowing the NHS to go digital by 2018

UKAtv: LG Digital Alliance - a coalition of the willing

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:16:00 GMT

While GDS has been focusing on central government's digital domain, an alliance of local government groups has been forming to tackle the development of frontline digital public services. This "coalition of the willing" brings together the different perspectives that will be needed to deliver successful local digital services: the Department of Communities & Local Government, the LGA, Local Government Delivery Council, Local CIO Council, Local Contact Council, Local Gov Digital and Socitm. "There was a real opportunity," explains LGA programme manager, Siobhan Coughlan, "to bring these groups together... to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts." Local government is key to delivering many public services, says Coughlan, and it is "absolutely essential that local government is involved in services that have frontline delivery". DCLG, she adds, can provide the conduit for coordination with the major central government service transformations currently under way. Viewing delivery from the user's perspective is essential, she maintains, quoting the 'Tell Us Once' project that simplifies the process of notifying the entire public sector of a death - "It's 'One and Done'. Why can't we do that with a whole range of public services?"

Age of shock for digital public services

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:54:12 GMT

A jurassic website need not damage warm and fuzzy feelings, a symposium on digital public services hears

News in brief...

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:48:14 GMT

Multi-disciplinary healthcare technology; Cyber security graduate funding; NI gets £5m for rural broadband

Companies & products...

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:52:40 GMT

OS maps Scottish watercourses; Alcatel-Lucent unveils new range; Ascribe launches new clinical networking group

Study backs price tag for some open public data

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:15:01 GMT

Open data presents a massive opportunity to the UK economy - but in the real world public bodies will need to retain some charges, a government-commissioned study says

Online politics rising factor In citizen engagement - or lack of it

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:21:13 GMT

Use of the internet and social media is an increasing factor in the understanding of political engagement of UK citizens, according to the 10th annual Audit of Political Engagement from the Hansard Society

News in brief…

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:43:38 GMT

Big Lottery digital inclusion skills fund; Inclusion app and business guide; Poor CCTV images reduce effectiveness

Contracts...

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:34:05 GMT

Memset hosts new CloudStore; South Wales FRS rosters with Kronos; Sogeti UK wins Home Office test service contract

App helps London patients choose a better way of death

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:11:28 GMT

A project called Coordinate My Care helps ensure people receiving end of life care get appropriate treatment -- including respect for any wishes they make about resuscitation or preferences for dying at home

Cloud briefs...

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:57:24 GMT

Create level playing field for cloud!; Oracle opens UK datacentre, Huddle & Memset find record year in cloud

In brief...

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:39:49 GMT

Text with your nose for inclusion; Socitm briefing on digital engagement; McCluggage becomes first Irish Government CIO

Labour throws down £75m broadband challenge

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:18:33 GMT

Labour has promised to pour an extra £75m into delivering superfast broadband in rural areas - accusing the government of being years behind schedule

Health contracts...

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:03:35 GMT

Sussex Health uses ForeScout for device security; Cumbria & Lancashire runs telemedicine with Polycom

Contracts...

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:01:39 GMT

Two FRS choose Symphony Bluelight; Aster Housing builds on ROCC; Utility opts for MDNX network

In brief...

Sat, 11 May 2013 21:53:48 GMT

Amazon and Google still not on G-Cloud; Teach kids to code; Digital mapping breeds innovation

In brief...

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:46:45 GMT

NHS 111 hotline 'patchy'; IoT reaching tipping point; Shared service success depends on approach; OMERS pays £390m for Civica

Contracts...

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:58:57 GMT

Fast house purchases in Eastleigh; Schools cut energy use by 25%; First Touch savings for South Yorks housing

Companies...

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:51:03 GMT

Bomgar embeds remote app support; Northgate works on new welfare services; BCS and IMIS merge

UKAtv: Shared digital learning, shared development

Tue, 7 May 2013 12:07:28 GMT

Geoff Connell, CIO of both Newham and Havering London boroughs, talks to UKAtv's Helen Olsen about how the Government's Digital Strategy applies within the local authority context. Connell is particularly enthusiastic about progress with Identity Management, indeed he and his team are working closely with GDS: "I'm hoping that Newham, Havering and Waltham Forest, working together, will be the first set of local authority websites able to interoperate with central government's Identity Management framework." Looking forwards he says that open standards are "absolutely critical" for enabling the public sector to work across frontline and central services, adding, "I think the open standards debate is far more important than the open source debate." He places great importance on the Microsoft shared learning group, which he says offers a networking opportunity helping senior managers "get to know what best practice looks like". It has also been key in the creation of solutions such as the portals currently delivering channel shift for Newham and Havering. "We are stronger than the sum of our parts," he adds. Sharing that experience and the solution across the partnership is "something I've believed in for a long time" and economic conditions mean that this repurposing is much more welcome today than in the past. He also believes that the decision to build these customer portals on the Dynamics CRM platform, under a "shared source" approach, has been more than justified by the results and the potential for re-use.

Socitm's time is now, says new president

Tue, 7 May 2013 14:51:17 GMT

Socitm's new president - Steve Halliday, head of IT at Solihull Council - says that the society's time is now; that in the age of austerity the public sector must use ICT to liberate efficiencies wherever possible.

In brief...

Tue, 7 May 2013 17:58:27 GMT

Newham streamlines rental licensing; G-Cloud spend tops £18m; arvato gears up for growth

News in brief...

Tue, 7 May 2013 12:17:30 GMT

Public sector CIOs and Design Thinking; Collaboration needed to tackle digital divide; More Crown Reps to drive procurement value

Companies & products...

Tue, 7 May 2013 11:45:51 GMT

Councils prepare for UC with Civica cloud; Triple resilience alerting for fire fighters; Complex car park solution

Contracts...

Mon, 6 May 2013 11:51:37 GMT

Mayrise underpins highways contract; Scottish Government picks Amor; Greater Manchester Police digitise with Steria

Companies & products...

Mon, 6 May 2013 11:42:54 GMT

Public Health England releases app for child health; BCS launches CPD tool for IT pros

News in brief...

Mon, 6 May 2013 11:04:36 GMT

Online criminals one step ahead; ICO puts three frontline organisations on watch; Insurance fraud needs big data solution

Contracts...

Sat, 4 May 2013 11:58:54 GMT

TerraSolid scanning on Sussex coast; Bluesky LiDAR aids flood prevention in Surrey Heath

Health in brief...

Sat, 4 May 2013 10:32:20 GMT

EHR improve patient care; remote monitoring comes of age; Queuing influences behaviour

'Cloud First' for Government Technology

Fri, 3 May 2013 14:56:44 GMT

As the new G-Cloud iii framework goes live today the Government has announced a 'Cloud First' policy for the procurement of public sector technology - this will be mandated to central government and 'strongly recommended' to the wider public sector.

Big data - bigger hype?

Thu, 2 May 2013 08:15:09 GMT

Local authorities shouldn't get their hopes up about the new buzz-field in the ICT world, Socitm's spring conference is told

Barnet claims 'clear and complete' victory over outsourcing challenge

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:59:22 GMT

The High Court today cleared the London borough of Barnet to proceed with a pioneering outsourcing programme which it says will save the council close to £150 million over 10 years.

Police IT leaves officers 'screaming'

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:44:48 GMT

Tom Winsor, Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, says that forces are being expected to make do with ageing equipment that 'haemorrhages efficiency'

Immerse yourself in data

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:43:39 GMT

ODI seeks crime and justice data startups ahead of blue light hackathons this weekend

Care comparison website 'will end scandals'

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:23:29 GMT

Around 8,000 providers have already started compiling profiles for their homes, ministers said - listing details of their services, Care Quality Commission reports and user comments

Facebook generation still concerned about health confidentiality

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:22:04 GMT

A long awaited review of information governance in health and social care says the NHS must get better at access and privacy

Government digital guru Loosemore stumbles into diplomatic incident

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:13:40 GMT

Could some of the shine be wearing off the Government Digital Service, so soon after it wowed the IT world as a refreshing change to the old, fusty Whitehall model of times past?

Contracts...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:38:16 GMT

Atos team wins strategy deal with MoD; Bristol Community Health pilots TotalMobile app; Bournemouth streams building demolition live

Health in brief...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:38:35 GMT

Healthcare imaging market surges; NI learns about Texas' e-care records; Care records standards body launches

UKAtv: Building a platform for the future

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:35:05 GMT

Kenny Blair works in Microsoft's platform modernisation team across Europe. In this short video he explains what his team does and how it can help you move legacy systems onto modern, standardised platforms and the significant benefits this can deliver. He gives tips on compiling key elements for a business case and outlines the iterative approach his team takes to both building the case and making the move to either on premise or cloud-based platforms.

In brief...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:21:03 GMT

Is flexible working going into reverse? Nearly quarter of council web visits now via mobile says Socitm; Youth Awards for digital action

Contracts...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:55:00 GMT

Rutland awards highway asset management to Yotta; King's Lynn & West Norfolk adopt AppSense; Leeds implements web chat

Whitehall falters in race to open data

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:27:04 GMT

Only six departments were 'fully compliant' with open data policies in the last three months of 2012 - down from nine in the previous quarter

Corporate, not citizen priorities could mar progress with channel shift

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:06:55 GMT

A failure to focus strongly on user priorities for online digital public services; lack of detailed strategy; and lack of engagement from politicians are among barriers to progress towards 'channel shift' - a term used to describe the move towards use of digital services - outlined in research published today by UKAuthority.com.

Contracts...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:07:46 GMT

Sharing Gazetteer management in Oxfordshire; Western Isles NHS opts for Plumtree; Danish police build fingerprint database with Steria

Address database 'to be sold off with Royal Mail'

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:42:18 GMT

No future for postcode address mutual, a national newspaper reports

Survey 'underestimating digital divide'

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:59:43 GMT

The recent National Audit Office report 'Digital Britain 2' significantly underestimates the extent of the UK's digital divide, says the head of a national network of community computer centres, UKonline.

Health Companies & Products...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:47:10 GMT

TotalMobile support Scottish mobile health working; Orion Health and Caradigm deliver integrated health record; IMS MAXIMS help Royal Cornwell meet care targets

Companies & Products...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:09:20 GMT

British BIDs back Facewatch; Kahootz gains IL2; GovDelivery launches white papers

Digital Focus

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:15:29 GMT

It is all very well making services "digital by default" - but how do we know which services citizens have the strongest wish to see digitised, and prefer to use online?

GOV.UK sweeps International Design Awards

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:37:54 GMT

GOV.UK, the new central web portal for all government services online developed by the Government Digital Service in the Cabinet Office, has won the Digital category in this year's Designs of the Year Awards, run by the Design Museum. The site also took the overall prize for Design Museum Design of the Year Award 2013.

All-star line-up for Open Standards Board

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:22:07 GMT

Having agreed membership of the Open Standards Board government can "get to work on identifying the standards that will allow cheaper and more flexible ways of buying and using its IT," said Francis Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office.

'Digital By Default' is challenge behind the scenes

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:42:04 GMT

What will it mean for the UK's public services to become 'digital by default?'

Call for new NHS information architecture

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:16:39 GMT

As the dust settles from the English NHS reforms, attention switches to information - and the need to stop going around in circles

UKAtv: TfL builds next generation ticketing platform

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:54:48 GMT

TfL's Oyster card has proven extremely popular with Londoners, however the organisation is not resting on its laurels: work on the next generation Oyster replacement is already well under way. Tim Carmen, Architecture Manager at Transport for London (TfL), is responsible for creating the architecture for this new ticketing platform. With an ethos of agile development and following an extensive proof of concept, Carmen outlines how the search for a new platform ended with the choice of SQL Server 2012 and expanded functionality for the new system.

UKAtv: Pooling knowledge & development resources

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:33:47 GMT

Microsoft Government Account Manager, Robin Denton, says that both councils and Microsoft gain from working collaboratively within the Shared Learning Group. "The aim is to allow them to collaboratively work together to create solutions on top of Microsoft technologies... but half of the benefit is enabling those organisations to talk together about shared problems and shared solutions." Eleven councils currently work together, gaining - and sharing - economies of scale and benefiting from close engagement with Microsoft specialists. Denton says that these councils have already got an investment in Microsoft technology, so "How can we help you maximise that? How do we help you to make solutions that will enable your council to offer better services to the citizen and make costs savings... and share those savings with other authorities?"

Companies & products...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:27:55 GMT

Skyscape email at IL3; Windows Azure gains IL2; Scottish mapping agreement; Upgrade to OS MasterMap

Contracts...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:59:25 GMT

£1bn Pan-London ICT framework; Arvato wins in East Cheshire; Housing 21 opts for CACI; Catalonia picks HP

In brief...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:29:01 GMT

Digital strategy progress report; Digital deal for social tenants; £100m won by SMEs; ICO concern over NHS reform

First ever UK RSA Security Summit: 22nd April, London

Tue, 9 Apr 2013 16:20:44 GMT

RSA is providing a focal point for the UK's security professionals to debate the growing cyber threat and security breach landscape with its learning and network event, the RSA Security Summit, on 22nd April at the Barbican in London.

Thatcher: first PM of the microcomputer age

Tue, 9 Apr 2013 09:29:26 GMT

It is only a footnote in the political career of the Iron Lady, but in 1982 Margaret Thatcher's administration was the first UK government to try to bring public services in to the personal computer era

Warning over European ID rules

Tue, 9 Apr 2013 07:31:07 GMT

An IT expert group calls for big changes in a draft European Commission proposal on electronic IDs

Contracts...

Mon, 8 Apr 2013 08:56:31 GMT

ONS heads for cloud with BT; Sunrise for Newham partnership; NI Assembly chooses iTrent; East Sussex partners with Yotta

Companies & products...

Mon, 8 Apr 2013 08:56:51 GMT

NHS mobile working workshops; Capita buys STL; ScriptX growth; Alcatel-Lucent unified customer service

Contracts...

Sun, 7 Apr 2013 21:25:51 GMT

Government's 2nd shared service centre; Vodafone for Test Valley and Winchester; Luton outsources CCTV control; Macau ID cards

Companies & products...

Sun, 7 Apr 2013 21:02:13 GMT

Bluesky renewable energy; Free wifi in Leeds; GovDelivery certification

How to dig for diamonds in the data mine

Fri, 5 Apr 2013 15:06:21 GMT

We have entered a world of 'big data' - where 'big' is an understatement, the panel heard at the recent UKA Live broadcast: "Big Data, digital public services and innovation". Unimaginably large databases and data streams are being generated and stored by our public and private services and by individuals.

In brief...

Fri, 5 Apr 2013 18:03:15 GMT

Benchmarking to manage austerity; Low tech pay grumbles; Social media productivity

In brief...

Fri, 5 Apr 2013 17:37:39 GMT

UKBA IT failings led to split up; Digital Scotland 22 May; GeoVation green hack

Companies & products...

Tue, 2 Apr 2013 11:56:51 GMT

BT links N3 to PSN; O2's plan for digital public sector; Tiny Green signage; GGP SNN street naming & numbering

Online marketplace fails to catch police

Tue, 2 Apr 2013 08:14:23 GMT

The National Audit Office reports that fewer than half of forces are using a procurement hub

MPs warn of fraud confusion from universal credit switch

Tue, 2 Apr 2013 19:59:08 GMT

Vital fraud-busting technology in local authorities will be lost under the government's welfare revolution, the Communities and Local Government select committee reports today

Companies & products...

Mon, 1 Apr 2013 13:01:21 GMT

Digital Life Science launches, GeoStore transfers to Aligned; Cloud for libraries; Fujitsu invests in UK