Government as a platform is the latest buzzword in Whitehall - but is that really what they are going to deliver?
In the world of government technology, platforms are increasingly the only business in town. With the election safely out of the way, consultation is now happening at the highest levels about what, exactly, “government as a platform” (GaaP) actually means, and where the opportunities lie to take advantage of what it may have to offer.
Read more: GB: Government as a platform, or a platform for government? Which are we getting?
The election of a Government with a working majority, however modest, reduces the pressure for narrow nationalism when it comes to skills policy but we should take good note of the difference between promises and reality and the pressure from voters to bridge the gap. A recurrent theme during the election was the need to address the pressures on housing, schools, the NHS and wages from "uncontrolled immigration". This was close coupled to pressures to better educate and train British workers rather than import supposedly skilled staff from overseas, whether from Eastern Europe or Asia. The Prime Minister began his post election speeches and letter of thanks to supporters with the promise of 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020. In the Queen's Speech the Government adopted the Labour pledge to make it an offence for businesses and recruitment agencies to hire from abroad without advertising in the UK and announced plans for higher visa charges for supposedly skilled workers.
New technologies are transforming hospitals across the UK.
The rise of big data and the Internet of Things is creating fresh opportunities for clinicians, while computers are becoming faster and more mobile, making it easier for healthcare professionals to get the job done quicker.
However, it’s not just new physical products which are making a difference (see our ‘Top three product picks’ for some of the latest healthcare tech from London’s E-Health event in March) – but digital innovations are changing the way the health sector operates.
The purpose of our G-Cloud Enterprise Solutions guide is to establish the relationship between new Cloud services and their ability to support the implementation of Transformational Digital Government, how the technology can be used to radically change how business processes work and the benefits they bring.
As experts like the Policy Exchange are describing the concept of e-government has moved on from simply creating online interfaces to existing processes without changing them, instead the more strategic use of the technology is to harness it to achieve new organizational models that weren’t previously possible.
Scottish doctors are assessing child patients via video link in a move designed to cut down on the rising number of over-anxious parents clogging up A&E departments with children who do not require emergency treatment.
Four NHS health boards have taken part in a pilot project that saw GPs and doctors in rural and community hospitals contacting an on-call paediatric consultant via video conferencing who then assessed a child.
Read more: GB: Scotland: Doctor video-link bid to reduce pressure on A&Es