Government Panel: Government Legacy IT Issues
3rd June 2025 from 6:00pm — 8:00pm • Information Technologists' Hall
The Government Panel: Government Legacy IT Issues. Tuesday, 3 June 2025, starting at 6pm in the WCIT Hall
The Government’s Chief Technology Officer, David Knott, will speak on the issues arising from the legacy of the Government’s IT systems.
The UK public sector has enormous digital resources: it spends over £26 billion annually on digital technology, employs a workforce of nearly 100,000 digital and data professionals, and delivers millions of online transactions every day. Millions of people across the country rely on digital services from their local authority, their hospital, their school and all parts of the public sector to help them in their daily lives.
When these resources are deployed effectively, they can deliver outstanding results. The NHS app, delivered in a time of crisis, is the most widely used app in the UK. GOV.UK combines government digital services in a way which is emulated worldwide.
Yet these successes are too often achieved despite the system rather than because of it. They rely on the dedication of experts doing their best with limited resources, navigating processes which were not designed for a digital age, and implementing policies which were not designed to be digital first. As we move into a new era of opportunities created by artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology innovations, Government must take a realistic and unflinching view of how much more it has to do to create a modern digital government and reform public services.
Our Guest Speaker
David Knott Biography
David is Chief Technology Officer for UK Government, working within the Government Digital Service. He is a technology leader, strategist and architect with over 30 years’ experience across a range of industries, including banking, insurance, transportation, utilities, media and government.
Prior to becoming Government CTO, David’s most recent roles have been as an Expert Partner at Boston Consulting Group, focusing on Cloud, DevOps and Digital Transformation, as a Digital Transformation Officer at Google, and as Chief Architect at HSBC.
David holds a PhD in Philosophy, specialising in Ethics. In recent years, he has applied this expertise in the fields of AI and data ethics, helping HSBC define its first set of ethical principles for the use of AI and data, and working as part of the Responsible AI teams at HSBC, Google and BCG.
BOOKING
There is a £15 inc. VAT – any surplus will go towards WCIT Charity.