Central Government: Year in Review 2024
It’s been a busy year for us here in the Central Government Programme at techUK. Alongside our regular cadence of market engagement events, including supplier surgeries on Technology Services 4, updates from CCS on G-Cloud 15, and briefings from government departments, we wanted to share with you some highlights from 2024.
We started off strong celebrating the 31 techUK members that made it to Tussell’s 3rd annual Tech200 awards – a list of the 200 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK public sector from FY 2021/22 to FY 2022/23! We were also pleased to be able to partner with Tussell to host a meet and greet for the winners in April.
The Central Government Council continued their hard work from 2023 with the first session in our ‘Public Sector Tech Talks: In Conversation With…’ series - we were delighted to sit down with Richard Corbridge, CDIO, DWP. Our Public Sector Tech Talks are a regular series of fireside chats between members and senior public sector figures, exploring their drivers, priorities and challenges, aiming to improve the dialogue across the public sector tech ecosystem and set the scene for more meaningful market engagement.
February saw our first Social Value Week. On Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 February we explored how technology companies are supporting social value initiatives and making positive contributions to communities across the UK. You can catch up on all the blogs from the week here. In April we ran our annual Digital Transformation in the Public Sector Week, from Monday 8 to Friday 12 April we looked at the role the technology industry is playing to support digital transformation in the public sector.
Keeping the SME agenda at the forefront, we published a call for responses to our Public Sector Tech SME Survey: Social Value in Central Government Contracts. The first GovTech SME Survey of its kind, we sought to gather the views of tech SMEs operating within central government to find out their challenges, concerns, and any possible advantages they have in addressing social value in procurements. Look out for the results in the New Year!
In May 2024 we were delighted to announce the addition of the education programme to our offering of market areas for our members. We have had a longstanding ambition to bolster the UK's education sector and edtech market within techUK, and our this latest market programme is a timely enrichment to the national dialogue on edtech. You can visit the Education Hub here.
The Public Services Board also published their new paper, AI and Digital Transformation in the Public Sector. The paper examines the opportunities and risks associated with the widespread adoption of AI in the public sector. It explores the practical solutions which can help overcome these adoption blockers and offers insights from industry on the early adoption of AI. You can read the paper here.
This year we celebrated 10 years of our annual flagship public services conference - Building the Smarter State - we reflected on the past 10 years of digital government, from what has worked to what more needs to be done. In the run up to the conference, from Monday 2 September to Friday 6 September, we hosted Building the Smarter State Week - during this week members and stakeholders discovered the innovation and impact within the smarter state.
As you may know, the Procurement Act 2023 is set to go live in February 2025, and it will bring changes to procurement in the UK public sector, aiming to create a simpler and more flexible commercial system. In October we held a series of online events based around public procurement, where we explored what the changes will look like in practice and just how the act will influence how suppliers do business with the UK public sector.
We already have a number of events lined up for the New Year, including the next session in our Public Sector Tech Talks: In Conversation With…’series, where we will be sitting down with Chrstine Bellamy, CEO of GDS, and a webinar on winning work under the Procurement Act 2023.
On that note, we’d like to wish all our members and stakeholders all the best for the festive period, and express our thanks to all our members and stakeholders who worked with us this year. We look forward to working with you all in 2025!
Heather Cover-Kus
Heather Cover-Kus
Heather is Head of Central Government Programme at techUK, working to represent the supplier community of tech products and services to Central Government.
Prior to joining techUK in April 2022, Heather worked in the Economic Policy and Small States Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat. She led the organisation’s FinTech programme and worked to create an enabling environment for developing countries to take advantage of the socio-economic benefits of FinTech.
Before moving to the UK, Heather worked at the Office of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas and the Central Bank of The Bahamas.
Heather holds a Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP, a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from LSE, and a BA in Economics and Sociology from Macalester College.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-cover-kus-ba636538
Ellie Huckle
Ellie Huckle
Ellie joined techUK in March 2018 as a Programme Assistant to the Public Sector team and now works as a Programme Manager for the Central Government Programme.
The programme represents the supplier community of technology products and services in Central Government – in summary working to make Government a more informed buyer, increasing supplier visibility in order to improve their chances of supplying to Government Departments, and fostering better engagement between the public sector and industry. To find out more about what we do, how we do this and how you can get involved – make sure to get in touch!
Prior to joining techUK, Ellie completed Sixth Form in June 2015 and went on to work in Waitrose, moved on swiftly to walking dogs and finally, got an office job working for a small local business in North London, where she lives with her family and their two Bengal cats Kai and Nova.
When she isn’t working Ellie likes to spend time with her family and friends, her cats, and enjoys volunteering for diabetes charities. She has a keen interest in writing, escaping with a good book and expanding her knowledge watching far too many quiz shows!
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2015
- Twitter:
- @techUK,@techUK
- Website:
- www.techuk.org,www.techuk.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://bit.ly/3mtQ7Jx,https://bit.ly/3mtQ7Jx
Austin Earl
Austin Earl
Austin joined techUK’s Central Government team in March 2024 to launch a workstream within Education and EdTech.
With a career spanning technology, policy, media, events and comms, Austin has worked with technology communities, as well as policy leaders and practitioners in Education, Central and Local Government and the NHS.
Cutting his teeth working for Skills Matter, London’s developer community hub, Austin then moved to GovNet Communications where he launched Blockchain Live and the Cyber Security and Data Protection Summit. For the last 3 years he has worked with leaders in Education across the state and independent schools sectors, from primary up to higher education, with a strong research interest in technology and education management.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07891 743 932
- Website:
- www.techuk.org,www.techuk.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-spencer-earl/,https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-spencer-earl/
Annie Collings
Annie Collings
Annie joined techUK as the Programme Manager for Cyber Security and Central Government in September 2023. In this role, she supports the Cyber Security SME Forum, engaging regularly with key government and industry stakeholders to advance the growth and development of SMEs in the cyber sector.
Before joining techUK, Annie was an Account Manager at a specialist healthcare agency, where she provided public affairs support to a wide range of medical technology clients. She also gained experience as an intern in both an MP’s constituency office and with the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed. Annie holds a degree in International Relations from Nottingham Trent University.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Twitter:
- anniecollings24
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-collings-270150158/
Ella Gago-Brookes
Ella Gago-Brookes
Ella joined techUK in November 2023 as a Markets Team Assistant, supporting the Justice and Emergency Services, Central Government and Financial Services Programmes.
Before joining the team, she was working at the Magistrates' Courts in legal administration and graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2022. Ella attained an undergraduate degree in History and Politics, and a master's degree in International Relations and Security Studies, with a particular interest in studying asylum rights and gendered violence.
In her spare time she enjoys going to the gym, watching true crime documentaries, travelling, and making her best attempts to become a better cook.
- Email:
- [email protected]