Digital, Data & Technology

Latest ranking of digital services in the EU puts UK top for open data – but slipping on use of online forms

Latest revisions to the tax authority's Single Departmental Plan include customer service targets and aim of getting staff engagement up to civil service-wide average

National Audit Office says customer service hit by tax authority's decision to reduce staff numbers before online switch was ready – but HMRC says it is now offering its "best service levels in years"

Cabinet Office promises new multi agency incident transfer protocol will help improve response to major incidents like terror attacks and floods

Online verification service passes service assessment, as Janet Hughes vows to listen and learn as scheme is introduced across departments

Tech entrepreneur and government digital adviser tells The House magazine that Government Digital Service was right to  "go fast" in its early years – but says reform efforts must not become "balkanised" in separate departments

Government unveils latest push to ease public sector data-sharing

Crown Commercial Service to roll out the Open Contracting Data Standard across Whitehall by the autumn, as Cabinet Office acknowledges current contracts info acting as a "barrier to suppliers and businesses"

Ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, think tank says slim Commons majority and tough Spending Review settlements mean government would be wise to focus on key priorities 

MPs says Rural Payments Agency "must communicate clearly with its customers and ensure that it is appropriately resourced" to avoid repeat of the delays faced by farmers waiting on Common Agricultural Payments

Study by Tech UK and Dods Research finds gap between vision and reality on departments' digital transformation plans

Politicians are fond of bandying around statistics to boost their arguments – but how much of what they say is informed by facts? Suzannah Brecknell meets Full Fact director Will Moy who explains his mission to rid public debate of “nonsense”

New body to be set up amid concerns over the use of big data, with Cabinet Office also drawing up new framework for government data science

Cabinet Office minister says distributed ledgers could offer a "better way" of monitoring the distribution of government cash

Open data organisation co-founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee says proposed model for the privately-owned Land Registry "appears very similar to historic examples of long-term outsourcing deals and risks repeating the same mistakes"

Two new proposed tenders aim to simplify mobile working through use of the cloud

Online payments firm Stripe – which handles payments for Kickstarter – among those chosen in revamped approach to government merchant services

Standards and Testing Agency chief executive Jennifer Coupland blames "failure to follow appropriate clearance processes" and apologises to parents and teachers

Two new data and statistics centres to be created at the Office for National Statistics HQ in Newport, while an “increased London presence” is planned to improve its the organisations relationship with users

Government's top IT official taking on newly-created role of national technology adviser

New digital hire will head up plan to help departments share common digital platforms and oversee budget "in excess" of £15m a year

Criminal Justice Joint Inspection report highlights "significant progress" needed on digital overhaul of the justice system – with continued manual entry and lack of join-up

GDS executive director says central government digital team must ensure Whitehall "embraces the change, rather than trying to avoid it"

Move designed to allow public sector buyers to complete existing procurements before the switch