The UK Government is partnering with Google to help modernise the NHS and local council services
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has announced a new partnership with Google Cloud, which will help modernise outdated government IT, upskill 100,000 civil servants in digital and AI by 2030, and secure better tech deals for the taxpayer.
The partnership ultimately aims to make sure people can get the information and support from government services – from healthcare, to bin collections and tax returns – more easily and without undue stress, as well as targeting the £45 billion jackpot technology offers the public sector in efficiency savings, the department said.
Google DeepMind will collaborate with technical experts in government to support them in deploying and diffusing new emerging technologies, driving efficiencies across the public sector, including accelerating scientific discovery.
Government departments will also be helped to leave “ball and chain” tech contracts where companies have made it too difficult to transfer data to modern systems, with some companies hiking the prices while the taxpayer is locked into contracts.
Currently, over one in four public sector systems run on legacy tech, rising to 70% in some police forces and NHS trusts, whereby decades-old contracts mean they’re trapped using old servers that are vulnerable to outages and cyber breaches.
Google Cloud is able to help these organisations move from legacy technology to the latest ‘secure-by-design’ cloud technology, which will give them much more choice in future.
This strategy is boosted by a target to upskill tens of thousands of public sector workers in AI and digital by 2030 through a new Google Cloud training programme proposed to run in parallel to the partnership, helping to hit the Prime Minister’s target to have 1 in 10 civil servants working in tech roles by the same date.
The Technology Secretary is expected to announce the partnership at Google’s Cloud Summit London today, as part of a wider push to overhaul the way the government engages with technology providers.
The move is in a bid to give the government better bargaining power to drive innovation and technology adoption in the public sector by negotiating for the full public sector on behalf of the taxpayer.
“Google Cloud is proud to be a strategic partner of the UK government as they embark on this ambitious digital transformation. As the country evolves, the flexibility of Google Cloud will help the government lead the AI era,” said Tara Brady (President of Google Cloud EMEA).
“We are deeply committed to empowering the UK public sector with the technical skills and innovative AI-powered solutions required to build a truly modern, secure and efficient digital future, delivering tangible benefits to citizens and driving significant economic value,” she said.
