Government to overhaul public sector tech usage, introduce AI to fix public services

The UK Government is today unveiling a raft of changes and new technology designed to modernise tech and deliver better public services.

It follows a Government review which found public sector workers are being held back by archaic technology.

The Government now wants to target £45 billion in productivity savings every year. It said it will do away with “insensitive and antiquated” processes, and apply “a common-sense approach” to sharing information, which could see central government departments, like HMRC and the Department for Business and Trade, share data with each other.

“We will use technology to bear down hard to the nonsensical approach the public sector takes to sharing information and working together to help the people it serves,” said Science Secretary Peter Kyle.

“We will also end delays businesses face when they are applying for licences or permits, when they just want to get on with the task in hand – growth. This is just the start.”

Changes aim to “cut across Whitehall barriers”

According to the Government, the changes will see a new team, housed in the Department for Science, Technology & Innovation (DSIT), “cut across Whitehall barriers” to join up public services, so people do not have to tell dozens of organisations the same thing, and training programmes to help civil service technologists become AI engineers.

The blueprint for a modern digital government, published today, sets out how the government will also overhaul how it delivers digital services and spends £23 billion a year on technology starting with a Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence.

This will look at how public sector organisations, like local councils, can negotiate contracts together to save money, and open opportunities for smaller UK start-ups and scale-ups as part of the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change.

Detailing priorities for the use of technology across Government, a Digital and AI Roadmap will be published in summer aligned with the second phase of the Spending Review.

A new team will “cut through organisational boundaries” to build public services that make sense for the people using them, “stopping the waste of taxpayer’s time and money.”

The team will start by looking at services offered to people with long term health conditions or disabilities, which potentially have to interact with more than 40 different services provided across nine organisations from healthcare to local authorities.

Solutions are also being developed that will help people access the services, “nudging them towards financial and practical support where it is available”. These solutions will be piloted with local health agencies later this year.

Introducing New AI tool: Humphrey

A team of AI developers from DSIT, which is being expanded under new plans announced today, has built a package of tools to speed up the work of civil servants and make them deliver ministerial plans more quickly.

Across Whitehall, the bundle of tools will be known as ‘Humphrey’, named after the fictional Whitehall official made in the BBC comedy Yes, Minister. It is set to be made available to all Civil Servants soon, with some of the products included ready for use today. Among their uses, the tools will help the government take on board the views of people, civil society organisations and businesses that comment on policies through consultations.

‘Consult’, a tool in the package, analyses the thousands of responses any government consultation might receive in hours, before presenting policy makers and experts with interactive dashboards to explore what the public are saying directly.

Currently, this process is outsourced to consultants and analysts who can take months to consolidate responses, before reportedly charging around £100,000 every time.

The Government said the technology, which is currently being tested on data from past consultations, will speed up the policy making process and make it easier for decisions to take on board everyone’s views.

As well as Consult, Humphreywill include:

• Parlex: A tool to help policymakers search through and analyse decades of debate from the Houses of Parliament, so they can shape their thinking and better manage bills through the Commons and the Lords.
• Minute: A secure AI transcription service for meetings, producing customisable summaries in the formats that public servants need. It is currently being used by multiple central departments in meetings with ministers and is in trials with local councils.
• Redbox: A generative AI tool designed specifically to help Civil Servants with day-to-day tasks, like summarising policy and preparing briefings.
• Lex: A tool which helps officials research the law by providing analysis and summarisation of relevant laws for specific, complex issues.

These tools are being announced following Matt Clifford’s AI Opportunity’s Action plan, delivering on his recommendation to expand the work of government AI teams to rapidly test, build or buy tools focused on public sector productivity and deliver better services for citizens.

To make sure this work can happen quickly, a framework for finding and buying AI solutions from the private sector will be developed with a focus on making sure small projects can happen quickly and responsibly, as well as addressing the barriers to using AI at scales.

More action points under the blueprint for a modern digital government

 The blueprint for a modern digital government also announces:

• Rules making it mandatory in due course for every public sector organisation to publish their application programming interfaces, or APIs, which will make it easier for public sector organisations to exchange data in a secure and controlled way.
• A Technical Design Council led by AI and data experts will also be set up to tackle the toughest technical challenges faced by different areas of Government as it puts technology to work across the public sector.
• Safeguards and assurance for the use of technology in the public sector, including the creation of a Responsible AI Advisory Panel, including frontline public sector workers, industry experts and civil society.
• Plans to review how digital professionals are paid and rewarded across the public sector, with a view to making this sustainable and more competitive with the private sector.
• The expansion of the Government Digital Service (GDS), within DSIT, to include the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), Incubator for AI and the Geospatial Commission.
• Raising the importance of digital skills in Whitehall, a new Government Chief Digital Officer will be advertised shortly, who will sit as a Second Permanent Secretary within DSIT and have responsibility for leading the overall digital profession across Whitehall.