Parliamentary reporter, Computing, Wednesday 17 March 2010 at 14:19:00 Government plans to force ISPs to crackdown on copyright abuse will cost the industry between £250 million and £500 million according to an estimate published by the Department for Business. Government plans to force ISPs to crackdown on copyright abuse will cost the industry between £250 million and £500 million according to an estimate published by the Department for Business. But the department's impact assessments for the Digital Economy Bill, which has passed the Lords and is awaiting debate in the Commons, claim this should be set...Read More »

Parliamentary reporter, Computing, Monday 15 March 2010 at 13:36:00 Mandelson's proposal will see the Human Rights Committee able to block copyright laws asking ISPs to suspend service Business secretary Peter Mandelson has come close to giving the Joint Commons and Lords Human Rights Committee the power to veto any orders made under powers proposed in the Digital Economy Bill to crack down on copyright infringement abuse. This undertaking was published ahead of the Lords' final approval of the bill today, which contains provisions to enable copyright holders to compel internet service providers to act against abusers,...Read More »

parliamentary reporter, Computing, Friday 12 March 2010 at 17:23:00 Vast majority of electorate say they would vote online and 13 per cent admit to having an MP as "a friend" on Facebook. says survey More than three-quarters of the electorate would vote via the internet if they could, according to a major survey conducted this week. The survey, conducted by media consultants Lewis Communications, interviewed 1,000 people on their attitudes to the use of social media and digital technology in politics. Some 56 per cent of those polled had visited political websites, signalling a substantial increase...Read More »

Nicola Brittain, Computing, Friday 12 March 2010 at 15:05:00 £10bn partnership deal will see HMRC IT staff improve services HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has signed a £10m partnership deal with Accenture to develop its in-house IT capability. In a statement published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the department said the deal will see Accenture improve the capabilities of its in-house IT development team, as well as IMS Solutions Development and Delivery. Accenture will also actively contribute to the development of an IT strategy for the department, one of the priorities of which...Read More »

Parliamentary reporter, Computing, Friday 12 March 2010 at 10:17:00 Passage in Commons may see horse trading between the Tories and Lib Dems on which elements are dropped Fears are mounting that the government's flagship Digital Economy Bill containing the controversial "telephone tax" is being left to the mercy of a last-minute scramble to finish off legislative business before Parliament is dissolved for a 6 May general election. Commons leader and government business manager Harriet Harman was unable to reassure MPs when she delivered her agenda for the next two weeks on Thursday [11 March] without a...Read More »

Nicola Brittain, Computing, Thursday 11 March 2010 at 12:04:00 And a further £87,700 on marketing and £11,930 on branding The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has published advertising expenditure for its ID card scheme that equates to £300 for every ID card applicant so far. The money went on online and offline advertising used to make businesses and consumers aware of the scheme in Manchester and London. The IPS also spent £87,700 on marketing and £11,930 on branding in relation to ID cards and the National Identity Register. Home Office minister Meg Hillier told Nick...Read More »

Parliamentary reporter, Computing, Tuesday 9 March 2010 at 13:20:00 Cross-party demands for changes to the Crime and Security Bill ignored The government has used its Commons majority less than a month before the likely date of the general election to push through changes in the law placing the government's DNA database on a statutory footing. This follows a debate on the Crime and Security Bill, which is currently at the report stage in the Commons. Crime and Policing Minister David Hanson flatly rejected cross-party demands for a retention period of three years for data from those...Read More »

Nicola Brittain, Computing, Friday 5 March 2010 at 16:48:00 Amid speculation that more deals are planned The Conservatives have urged the cabinet secretary, Gus O’Donnell, to ensure that no more big IT contracts are signed in the run-up to the general election. This follows big deals made in recent weeks by the Department for Work and Pensions including the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority awarding a contract likely to be worth £600m to TCS for the National Employment Savings Trust; a new government pensions scheme; and a Read More »

Nicola Brittain, Computing, Thursday 4 March 2010 at 16:00:00 Commission wrote off assets worth £1.4m Parliament's Public Accounts Committee has criticised the Equality and Human Rights Commission for poor control of its computer costs in a report released today. The errors cited by the report include the department’s £9.3m spend on new equipment including computer terminals even though it had inherited equipment from its predecessor organisations – the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission. The report says that it wrote off assets inherited from...Read More »

Nicola Brittain, Computing, Wednesday 3 March 2010 at 17:31:00 Deal is one of the public sector's largest framework agreements in history The government's IT procurement partner, Buying Solutions, has signed a £4.5bn desktop deal with Fujitsu, Atos Origin and HP for the provision of services across several government departments. The deal is part of one of the public sector's largest framework agreements in history and will last for four years. The suppliers will be expected to provide a wide range of desktop services across different government departments with requirements for more than 1,500 staff. The equipment...Read More »