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Posts from the ‘Week notes’ Category

May 24

This week at GDS

Highlights: The launch of new guides for Chief Technology Officers on the Digital Service Manual. We also published the latest quarterly update on the transaction explorer which for the first time included information about the digital take up of all departmental services. We met with digital leaders to carry on conversations around building digital capability within departments and DCLG talked about how they are supporting local authorities with their move to digital by default agendas. We also met with the BIS Entrepreneurs Forum to talk to them about GOV.UK, the advice for businesses on there and how we could look to improve it. After the bank holiday we’ll start testing with real users some of the improvements to the search facility of GOV.UK that we’ve been working on over the last few weeks.

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May 17

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This week at GDS

Highlights: The 1000th code release on GOV.UK – that’s about seven every working day. We also created a team within HMRC to extend the way we’ve been working out into departments. At our big monthly team meeting on Wednesday we heard from the Student Loans Company about the great work they’ve been doing to transform their transactions. We also saw the launch of the Digital Skills Alliance, led by Martha Lane Fox at the Go ON UK Trust. Next week we’ve got our regular digital leaders’ meeting on Wednesday and a major release of new guidance for CTOs which will form part of our digital by default service standard. We’ve also got more new starters in the team, and continue with our progress on the 25 exemplar service projects. As part of this I’m going up to the north-east to meet DWP and HMRC, and while up there I’m speaking at the Thinking Digital conference.

Full transcript below.

May 10

This week at GDS

Highlights: Progress this week on a new supplier framework, approaching launch around the end of this month, which will provide the whole of government with access to a broader range of digital and agile suppliers. GDS have also been working closely with the Student Loans Company in their selection of a technical transformation partner. The Digital Advisory Board also met this week. Next week, the monthly all-staff meeting will see updates from all the different projects and workstreams across GDS.

Full transcript below.

May 3

This week at GDS

Highlights: A very big week, as we marked the 24th and last of the ministerial departments moving to Inside Gov. The numbers that describe the volume of activity over the last six months are incredible – and thanks go to so many of the team who’ve worked hard to make this happen. Other notable things this week have been GDS participation in a cross-government major project review – working with Defra to answer for performance in and around our work with the Rural Payments Agency, one of our first exemplar services. We also had the opportunity at the Public Sector Show this week to talk to counterparts looking at digital services in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Full transcript below.

Apr 26

This week at GDS

Highlights: This week we visited the DVLA in Swansea, went to their executive board and met the team working on 1 of the 23 exemplar transactions which are being redesigned to meet the digital by default service standard. DfE (Department for Education) and HMT (Her Majesty’s Treasury) became numbers 22 and 23 out of the 24 central government departments moving to GOV.UK. We also visited the House of Lords to explain the changes to the identity scheme. Next week we move the 24th and final department site to GOV.UK, and there will be a special announcement mid week so keep your eyes on this blog… Read more

Apr 19

This week at GDS

Highlights – this week marks 6 months of GOV.UK, with some great statistics including 187 million visits to the site and 546 million page views since launch. We were really pleased this week to be chosen by the Design Museum as their Design of the Year 2013 – not just for the team in GDS, but for all the departments who’ve been supporting work on GOV.UK. The Digital by Default Service Manual was also launched this week; we’d love your feedback – get in touch through the site. And another big departmental move to Inside Government, with DWP’s corporate content coming over.

Next week sees two more departments moving over: Treasury and Education, and we’re also holding the monthly meeting of departmental Digital Leaders. On the agenda are a presentation from Tim Brooks, from our Digital Advisory Board, and a look at training for service managers. We’ve also got some international visitors, including ministers from Indonesia and South Africa.

(Full transcript below)

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Apr 12

This week at GDS

Highlights this week – a great presentation to all our staff from Adam Bye of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, who’ve recently moved all their services to GOV.UK, and the completion of further departmental moves including Defra and the Ministry of Justice. The Student Loans Company, working with GDS, have just completed a major digital product release, including significant changes to their registration process. Several other large transactions at Defra, the Home Office, DWP and HMRC are also making progress.

Next week sees the full launch of our Service Standard manual – advising anyone who is working with us how we want to build public services online – and also the move of DWP’s corporate information to GOV.UK. Our other big news is that GOV.UK has won the Design Museum’s digital category for excellence in design this year.

(Full transcript below)

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Apr 5

This week at GDS

Highlights this week – we published our first quarterly progress report on the Government Digital Strategy, setting out what’s been achieved since it was published in December. Work is now well underway on the transactional “exemplar” services – 9 are in either alpha or beta versions, and 4 currently in the first “discovery” stage.

Traffic to GOV.UK hit an all-time high of 6.13m visitors in the last week of February, which will only increase as more departments move across to GOV.UK. Tom Loosemore’s blog post on whether we should use apps (including a copy of his presentation) proved to be our most viral blog post. We’re also doing more to measure how much engagement we’re getting through the blog and through Twitter.

The National Audit Office published their Digital Britain Two report – useful praise for government’s work in the digital space, but also plenty to keep us on our toes, and some very useful recommendations for areas of improvement.

Next week – more departments join GOV.UK, including Ministry of Justice and Defra. Not long now until all departments are on there.

(Full transcript below)

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Mar 28

This week at GDS

Highlights this week – many more services make their transition to GOV.UK, including content with an international flavour in the form of the new Worldwide section. The policy content has also been strengthened with the addition of 15 new policies. Four more departments have joined GOV.UK in one week, leaving 6 to go.

Three events of note: one for large, established suppliers to government to look at the impact of new frameworks, a policy forum hosted by Policy Exchange, and a very important one in terms of relationships between government departments. The weekly meeting of permanent secretaries (heads of central government departments) was held in the GDS office at Aviation House – bringing a great opportunity to highlight the work of GDS in relation to each department.

Mike Beaven, who leads our transformation programme, will provide the weekly update next week, including more on commercial and contractual issues and relationships with suppliers.

(Full transcript below)

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Mar 22

This week at GDS

This week GOV.UK is up for the Designs of the Year awards at the Design Museum and the exhibition opened on Wednesday, the Department for Culture Media and Sport released a new intranet using GDS services and design rules, and we had Kip Meek a leading digital strategist inspiring our Digital Leaders. Next week we welcome the permanent secretaries to Aviation House and we also release the ‘Worldwide’ and the ‘Travel Advice’ section on GOV.UK. Read more

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