Brighton gets city centre Wi-Fi
A free Wi-Fi network is being set up around the city centre for Brighton & Hove, following a deal between the city council and BT.
The network will involve 40 hotspots, 30 of which are reported to be live already, with the remaining 10 to be switched on later in the summer. It will cover the busiest areas for tourism, shopping and leisure.
The council said the BrightonHovefreewifi will cost it nothing, as BT gets access to some of the city’s lamp posts and other street furniture to install mobile infrastructure.
HSCIC becomes NHS Digital
The Health and Social Care Information Centre is to take on the new name of NHS Digital, effective from July of this year. It said this will build on the role it plays in directly supporting the NHS and social care services.
Noel Gordon has been appointed as the chair of the renamed organisation, stepping up from his role of non-executive director and chair of the Specialised Services Commissioning Committee at NHS England.
Minister for Life Sciences George Freeman said: “Healthcare in the 21st century is going digital with improved treatment and care, and with huge benefits for patient safety. The newly named NHS Digital will provide important information and IT services to ensure better care for patients.”
Council consortium saves on fraud and error
Service technology company CapacityGrid has said its Fraud and Error Reviews Service is on course to achieve £2.5 million of savings by June of this year for a consortium of 12 local authorities. They have been using the service since early 2015 and have found savings of £1.5 million in council tax and £1 million in housing benefit.
Vijay Chandiramani, chief operating officer of CapacityGrid, said: “This means that for a number of councils within the consortium they will have achieved a step-change reduction in fraud and error for council tax reduction of over 35% over the life of the project.”
The service involves matching data that is live at the point of review, with GBGroup acting as a strategic partner in providing the relevant data.
Image: Richmond House, DoH headquarters, from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
