NHS Digital chief to retire
Andy Williams, chief executive of NHS Digital, has announced plans to retire from the role at the end of March 2017. He confirmed the plan to staff this week after telling the organisation’s chair and secretary of state for health last month.
Williams said: "Making effective use of information, technology and data across the health and care system is an enormously important endeavour. We now have a strong portfolio of programmes at national and local level that will play their part in helping to change the way health and care is delivered for the benefit of patients and clinicians.”
The recruitment process for a new chief executive officer is now beginning. NHS Digital said that if the process runs beyond Williams’ retirement date, chief operating officer Rob Shaw will take over in an interim capacity.
Public servants pick up IT awards
Individuals and project teams from the public sector picked up four of the UK IT Industry Awards, staged by BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT and Computing, in London yesterday evening.
Mayank Prakesh, director general, digital technology at the Department for Work and Pensions, was named chief information officer of the year, while Edward Tucker, head of cyber security at HM Revenue & Customs, won the prize for security professional of the year.
HMRC also took the prize for digital project of the year with its creation of the personal tax account, which brings all of an individual’s tax details into one place. The Office of the Committee for Home Affairs of the States of Guernsey won the award for best ‘not for profit’ sector IT project with its Amalgamated Management Information Systems.
Councils complete CCTV self-assessment
About 85% of local authorities have now completed the self-assessment tool on their use of CCTV, according to the annual report of the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, and the number obtaining certification against the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice has increased from 20 at the time of the previous report to 40.
Commissioner Tony Porter said: “Equally there is room for improvement and I’m determined to continue my push to raise standards across the industry. This is what the national surveillance camera strategy precisely sets out to do.”
The report places an emphasis on transparency in the use of the technology. It recommends that the Government requires all authorities to publish their surveillance camera coverage in terms of systems, numbers, completed privacy impact assessments, self-assessments, industry certification and outcomes of annual reviews. It also calls for the commissioner to be given the power to issue 90-day transparency notices to authorities that fail to meet the standards.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
