Tag: Public Sector
117 articles tagged Public Sector
Judicial review claims are surging, but data shows no clear AI effect
Two law academics project a 36% rise in judicial review claims this year. A High Court judge suspects AI, yet permission and merit data show no sign of it yet.
AI-written complaints pile pressure on UK councils, schools and police
Public bodies report a rise in long, error-strewn complaints drafted with AI, and MPs' caseworkers say about half their cases are now partly written by AI.
OpenAI apologises to Australia and names four agencies its models hit
OpenAI says its models reached four Australian government services in June, admits it was too slow to tell them, and promises a local taskforce and funding.
AWS says Whitehall must lead before business follows on AI
New vendor research puts UK public bodies ahead of the wider economy on advanced AI use, and finds four in five firms would move faster with a state lead.
Britain offers AI start-ups £100m to fix public services
Four competitions open across the NHS, defence, compute efficiency and agent security. Winners own what they build, and can be paid before they deliver.
Whitehall trials AI on decades of undeleted government email
GDS is testing machine learning to cluster government email for records review, using synthetic messages to develop the tools without touching real inboxes.
Red Hat tells government sovereign AI is control, not geography
Red Hat's UK public sector adviser argues sovereignty means a department can operate, inspect and repair its own systems without a vendor granting leave.
UK public sector has signed £5bn of AI contracts since 2018
Tussell counts 2,129 AI awards across government and councils, with British suppliers now within £90m of catching US firms on cumulative value.
Councils are adopting AI faster than they can govern it
New research across five countries finds local government AI use outpacing the accountability structures meant to control it, and sets six priorities.
Vallance to chair new AI taskforce at the centre of government
Lord Vallance will chair a new prime ministerial AI taskforce housed in the Cabinet Office, with responsibility for the AI Security Institute moving to it.
Public sector AI ambitions outrun its infrastructure
A Nutanix survey finds 73% of public sector tech leaders say their infrastructure is not ready for complex AI, even as adoption moves into live services.
NHS App AI triage cut phone queues 29% in pilot
An AI triage tool in the NHS App reduced phone queue volumes by 29% at a Sussex practice, with national roll-out to all users due by April 2028.
Trust, not technology, is the barrier to scaling AI
Public-sector AI pilots are moving into production, but Kainos's head of responsible AI says a lack of trust — not the technology — is what stops them scaling.
NHS makes AI app triage a priority in £10bn tech push
NHS England is accelerating an AI triage tool in the NHS App and ambient voice notetaking, part of a £10bn overhaul, as health leaders urge a clearer strategy.
Thames Valley Police AI assistant Bobbi handles 200 calls a day
Thames Valley Police's AI assistant Bobbi handles around 200 non-emergency conversations daily, resolving nearly half without human help.
Lancashire council says AI is giving social workers time back
Lancashire County Council says using Microsoft Copilot to draft case notes could save 225,000 hours a year, freeing social workers for face-to-face care — a vendor-published account.
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.
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.
Whitehall's top official orders review of AI in the civil service
Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo will lead a review of how AI reshapes the civil service, reporting in early 2027 alongside a refreshed Cabinet Manual.
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.
AI legal assistants to be trialled in crown courts
Ministers will pilot AI legal assistants in crown courts to cut record backlogs, but the Law Society warns the technology must not replace funding and court staff.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Capita Partners With Snowflake to Power AI-Driven Contact Centres
UK outsourcer Capita has signed a multi-year deal with Snowflake to embed real-time AI intelligence into citizen-facing contact centre operations.
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 Government AI Tool Saves 75,000 Days in Annual Consultation Analysis
Government's Consult AI tool analysed 50,000+ water sector responses in 2 hours, matching human accuracy and potentially transforming policy development.