The UK government has unveiled a series of digitalisation plans within the public sector to save £45bn each year on productivity. The headline announcement is “Humphrey,” a set of artificial intelligence tools to accelerate policymaking activities.
Most Humphrey tools summarize government data, including debates, meetings, policies, laws, and responses to queries, so public officials can search for it more quickly when making decisions. Prior to this, the collection of consultation responses was outsourced to contractors, costing the taxpayer £100,000 each.
Another plan is to establish a new team within the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation that will be tasked with identifying how technology can be used to improve the efficiency of public services. Current systems result in the UK tax authority receiving 100,000 phone calls a day and the driving licensing agency processing 45,000 physical letters, making response times unnecessarily long.
This team will begin by developing solutions to help people with disabilities or long-term illnesses more quickly access the services they need, such as financial support or healthcare. The technology will connect relevant government departments or local authorities so that people do not have to go between up to 40 of them in a series of phone calls.
Other initiatives, announced on January 21, include:
A full roadmap of these plans for how the government will revamp its £23bn-a-year technology spending will be published in the summer.
SEE: The UK lags behind Europe in mastering technical skills
UK public services plagued by legacy technology
European companies tend to specialize in mature technologies, meaning the region is often seen as technologically backward, particularly compared to the US. The UK is the main culprit, particularly in critical national infrastructure, whose Updating is difficult and expensive without downtime.
SEE: 99% of UK businesses faced cyber attacks in the last year
A government report published this week found that almost half of public services, such as those offered by the NHS and councils, cannot be accessed online. For example, registration of a death must be done in person and companies must place an advertisement in the newspaper when they want to buy a truck.
The report found that a quarter of all digital systems used by central government are outdated, leading to high maintenance costs and increased risk of cyber attacks. NHS England alone suffered 123 critical service cuts last year, resulting in missed appointments and disruptions related to staff being forced to use paper-based systems.
The disruption of cybercrime can have even more serious consequences. In June, a ransomware attack on pathology company Synnovis caused months of disruption to the NHS and, according to Bloomberg. This resulted in harm to dozens of patients, with long-term or permanent damage in at least two cases.
The government is dedicated to making the UK a leader in AI, reaping economic growth
This announcement comes just days after the government's 'AI Opportunities Action Plan', which outlines 50 ways it will develop the AI sector and make the UK a 'global leader'. The strategy involves increasing public computing capacity twenty-fold, creating a training data library, and building artificial intelligence centers in deindustrialized areas.
Last year, the UK signed an agreement committing to exploring how AI can improve public services and boost economic growth, alongside the other Group of Seven nations.
SEE: UK government announces £32m in AI projects
Science Secretary Peter Kyle said in a press release: “We will use technology to forcefully combat the mindless approach the public sector takes to sharing information and working together to help the people it serves. We will also end the delays that companies face when applying for licenses or permits, when all they want is to continue with the task at hand: growth.”
A “Digital Business Center of Excellence” will also be created as part of the reform, which will look at how public sector companies can invest in UK technology start-ups and scale-ups, simultaneously boosting their efficiency and creating jobs.
