Budget: Tech industry calls for investment to extend to digital services

In the Spring Budget today, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £12 billion investment in a new Leeds-based infrastructure bank to support the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.

Civica executive director, Steve Thorn says he welcomes the investment. “The chancellor’s new £12 billion Leeds-based Infrastructure Bank will help support struggling local governments in rebuilding their communities. With £5 billion for high streets, the additional investment will be welcome relief to many local businesses who have battled long-term closures over the past 12 months and will go some way to regenerating town centres and reviving local economies,” he said.

However, he said there is a need to ensure this fund can be used to invest in digital as well as physical infrastructure.

“Technology will play a vital role in moving the country forwards and recovering from the pandemic in an inclusive and sustainable way. Better connected citizens can access information and self-serve easily and more quickly. This acceleration of digitisation in the public sector will help ease pressure on an already strained local government workforce, so they can focus on driving more innovative, future-proofed public services.

“What’s more, ensuring all towns and cities have access to high-speed internet will be a vital part of the levelling up agenda. Not only is this critical for those that will be continuing to rely on online services to claim subsidies such as furlough, business loans and universal credit, but in equipping the next generation with the right skills to help us rebuild the economy in the digital age.

Research by techUK and Civica found that almost 20 percent of people have a more positive view of public service delivery since the onset of the pandemic, with 21 percent using digital public services more. Additionally, 44 percent of citizens believe public services make good use of digital technology to enhance their lives.

However, legacy systems command significant resources, representing about half of central government IT spend.

Lack of cybersecurity announcements

John Gilbert, general manager and regional VP sales of authentication vendor Yubico says, given the rise in cybercrime accelerated by the pandemic, he is surprised at the absence of any information on last year’s announcement of £1.5 billion to strengthen the UK’s cybercrime fighting capabilities – or even any updates as to whether this fund will be bolstered.

“However, as the government’s current National Cyber Security Strategy runs out this year, I hope to see a cybersecurity specific budget update later this year,” he said. “In the meantime, the UK’s private businesses must continue to play their part, investing in new technologies and working on privately funded initiatives to ensure British businesses and citizens receive the greatest possible defence against today’s increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.”

Fast track visa scheme

Elsewhere in the Budget, Sunak announced a ‘fast-track’ visa scheme to help start-up and rapidly growing tech firms source talent from overseas.

Rob Billington, channel manager, EMEA at Netwrix says he welcomes the news. “I think this is a really exciting and a much needed development. Brexit will have left many companies concerned about the skills shortage in our industry from both a development and implementation point of view and of course for specific areas such as security analysts where there is already a noticeable shortage of key staff. It is therefore critical that programmes like this are launched with clarity and speed to ensure that we can take a global approach to attracting the brightest and best to come to the UK and work in the tech industry.

“I am sure that this will be welcomed warmly by British firms and create optimism for growth and the much needed bounce-back that we hope to see.”

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