British Army AI cuts war-planning cycle from 72 hours to one
The Army's ASGARD system has compressed corps-level planning from 72 hours to one, its top general says, part of a £1bn battlefield AI push.
Tag: Public Sector
70 articles tagged Public Sector
Met chief warns police risk being outwitted by AI crime
Sir Mark Rowley says criminals exploiting AI move faster than forces bound by slow procurement and calls for fewer, larger police forces.
DVLA's AI phone system halves call navigation time
The DVLA's AI-powered voice system has cut average call-navigation time from three minutes to 90 seconds, handling some of its 900,000 monthly calls.
Home Office to deploy AI age-checks it knew were flawed
A leaked report shows the Home Office knew its AI facial age-estimation tool misjudges children and shows racial bias, yet will roll it out at the border.
AI prototype aims to halve England's planning decision times
The government unveils two AI planning tools, including a prototype tested in Barnet, Camden and Dorset that could cut householder decisions from eight weeks to four.
NHS gets £30m to spread AI cancer diagnosis in England
A near-£30m government package will roll out AI chest X-ray tools to every NHS trust by 2029 and fund pilots across 13 sites to speed up diagnosis.
Microsoft UK chief: AI can make public services more human
Ahead of London Tech Week, Microsoft UK's Darren Hardman argues AI is freeing public servants from admin, citing NHS, council and Whitehall examples.
DfE guidance backs AI for drafting SEND support plans
Updated government-backed guidance says schools may use AI to draft SEND support plans, but warns staff to be 'extremely cautious' with pupil data and statutory documents.
Home Office to use AI facial age checks on asylum seekers
The Home Office has awarded a £322,000 contract for AI facial age-estimation of asylum seekers from 2027, drawing sharp criticism from human rights campaigners.
NHS SBS and Salesforce launch AI finance support platform
NHS Shared Business Services and Salesforce have launched SBS One, an AI-powered finance and procurement help centre that NHS SBS says resolves most queries within 24 hours.
Police watchdog flags surge in AI-assisted complaints with invented laws
The IOPC says AI-drafted submissions are fuelling a 24% rise in complaint reviews, with some quoting legislation that does not exist in England and Wales.
HMRC awards £175m, 10-year AI contract to British scale-up Quantexa
HMRC has signed a 10-year, £175m deal with London-based Quantexa to use AI for fraud detection and to clear the backlog that drove a 33% rise in complaints.
Warwickshire seeks AI delivery partner on contract worth up to £2.4m
Warwickshire County Council has opened procurement for a two-year AI delivery contract worth up to £2.4m, though approval is currently only for £1m of spend.
HMRC scales Microsoft Copilot to 28,000 staff with 50,000 target
HMRC's first Chief AI Officer outlines a rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot to 28,000 staff with plans to extend to 50,000, alongside agentic complaint-handling pilots.
Palantir granted direct access to identifiable NHS patient records
NHS England has let Palantir staff see identifiable patient data on the federated data platform, drawing MP warnings about consent and trust.
Public-sector AI: 65% of UK government staff experimenting, only 30% integrated
FSP's Dr Jennifer Barth says UK public sector AI use is stuck between pilot and integration, with 41% of workers feeling unsupported in using the tools.
Public sector facilities teams unprepared for AI, Bellrock survey finds
Just 1% of UK estates leaders believe their current facilities management model is fit for purpose, with 65% having received no AI training at all.
ICO publishes guidance for public bodies on AI-generated FOI requests
The UK regulator says councils and central government face rising volumes of AI-drafted FOI requests, some misquoting legislation, and now offers a triage framework.
UK public sector IT teams say AI is shifting workload, not reducing it
A SolarWinds survey finds 56% of public sector IT respondents say AI has made their roles more demanding, with 90% reporting fragmented systems.
English councils to trial Google AI planning tool to halve approval times
Augmented Planning Decision Tool, built by Google on £8.3m contract, will recommend grant or refuse decisions; council officers retain final sign-off.
MoJ pilots Justice Transcribe for family courts as lawyers call for child safeguards
Ministry of Justice tests in-house AI against accuracy, cost and safeguarding thresholds, with Law Society pushing retained audio and bias evaluation.
DfT publishes bias-mitigation design for Gemini-based consultation analysis tool
Alan Turing Institute report shows how DfT's Consultation Analysis Tool uses LLM-as-a-judge, human review and explicit demographic safeguards.
HMCTS pilots Justice Transcribe AI to cut court transcript costs for victims
Ministry of Justice study will test in-house AI transcription against contracted providers, with free sentencing transcripts for Crown Court victims from spring 2027.
UK Department for Transport deploys Google Cloud AI for consultation analysis
DfT's Gemini-powered Consultation Analysis Tool cuts public feedback processing from months to hours, saving up to £4 million annually across 55 yearly consultations.
Development Bank of Wales awards £60,000 AI skills contract
The Welsh government body has contracted a Cheshire SME to deliver a year-long AI adoption programme, including Microsoft Copilot training and AI Champions across teams.
NHS staff alarm over Palantir engineers on NHS email accounts
Doctors and campaigners raise ethical concerns after at least six Palantir engineers are given NHS.net accounts with access to a 1.5 million-strong staff directory.
NHS urged to look beyond clinical AI for productivity gains
HSJ webinar panel warns NHS AI adoption is focusing on clinical documentation while missing bigger wins in administrative and operational work.
ICS.AI launches council AI accelerator ahead of 2028 LGR deadline
ICS.AI's new SMART Day One accelerator promises councils up to 30% faster reorganisation as 200 authorities face a hard April 2028 unitary deadline.
DVLA deploying agentic AI and voice technology across customer services
The DVLA is integrating LLM-powered search and AI voice tools into its contact centre, which handles over one million customer interactions monthly.
HM Land Registry AI tool cuts land charges migration from months to weeks
A new AI system combining OCR and large language models processed a London borough's local land charges records in four weeks with a team of four, replacing months of manual work.
PAC challenges government's 'curiously specific' AI savings claims
The Public Accounts Committee has questioned the methodology behind the government's claim that Microsoft Copilot saves civil servants 26 minutes per day.
UK public sector AI adoption stuck in pilot mode, leaders warn
NHS and university digital leaders say legacy systems, siloed data, and governance bottlenecks are preventing public sector organisations from scaling AI beyond pilots.
Police AI Chief Admits Crime-Fighting Tech Will Have Bias
National AI lead Alex Murray acknowledges bias in policing AI tools including facial recognition, as £115m national centre aims to minimise risks.
21 Police Forces Still Using AI Copilot Despite Hallucination Scandal
Sky News reveals most English police forces continue using Microsoft Copilot after West Midlands Police blocked the tool over fabricated evidence in an Israeli football fan ban.
UK Police Forces Turn to Palantir AI to Crack Complex Investigations
Bedfordshire police used AI tools to translate 100,000 messages and analyse 1.4TB of evidence in a major fraud case, as government pledges £115m for police AI rollout.
AI Tools Making 'Potentially Harmful' Errors in Social Work Records
An Ada Lovelace Institute study across 17 UK councils found AI transcription tools are inserting hallucinations into official care records, including false warnings of suicidal ideation.
DWP Explores AI Chatbots for Universal Credit as Job Losses Mount
The Department for Work and Pensions is testing AI chatbots to support benefit claimants, even as AI-driven job losses accelerate across the UK economy.
UK Government Publishes Digital Transformation Roadmap to 2030
GDS releases comprehensive plan for modernising public services, including AI deployment, GOV.UK app expansion and £45 billion efficiency savings target.
Police Chief Resigns After AI Hallucination Influences Decision
West Midlands Police chief retires after Microsoft Copilot generated fictional football match report that influenced a ban on Israeli fans.
UK Local Government Data 'Not AI-Ready by Default', Report Warns
New ODI and Nortal research finds councils piloting AI risk building on weak data foundations, with most datasets unfit for algorithmic use.
UK Launches AI Growth Lab to Fast-Track Innovation Through Regulatory Sandboxes
Government announces new regulatory framework enabling controlled AI testing in healthcare, transport, and manufacturing with £140bn productivity potential.