Lane Fox to co-chair government tech panel on public sector reforms

Martha Lane Fox is to co-chair a new government panel of technology experts who will advise on public sector reform.
The panel of 12 industry professionals and academics has been asked to help the government make better use of technology across the public sector.
Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, the co-founder of Lastminute.com, will be joined by Paul Willmott, chairman of the government’s central digital and data office and chief digital adviser to Lego, along with Poppy Gustafsson, the co-founder of Darktrace, the cybersecurity business.
The group will help the government to plan changes to “how technology is used across public services in a new attempt to cut backlogs, improve service outcomes and make government services more accessible”, the government said.
Feryal Clark, minister for AI and digital government, is due to announce the panel at today’s annual Tech Summit, which The Times is hosting in London.
The line-up for the event includes Demis Hassabis, the co-founder and chief executive of Google DeepMind, who will be interviewed by Tom Whipple, science editor at The Times, about the future of artificial intelligence (AI).
Sarah Cardell and Melanie Dawes, the bosses of the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom respectively, are due to discuss new powers to regulate “Big Tech” and how they plan to use them. Bosses from technology companies including Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, will discuss issues including the societal impact of AI.
Units from the Cabinet Office, No 10 and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are working together on the digital transformation of public services and are developing AI services for a range of uses across Whitehall and public services.
Clark is expected to tell the summit that “poor technology slows down public services too often, when new tools should be cutting waiting lists and taking the burden from citizens and the taxpayer.
“We will be bold in our plans with this new responsibility and the external expertise we are bringing in to advise us will help deliver on our shared ambitions to improve public services and drive sustainable growth that works for everyone.”
Lane Fox said: “The UK has an opportunity to deliver modern, reliable public services that benefit citizens while also helping to grow the economy. I am excited to help.”
Gustafsson said: “It should be as easy to get support from public services as it now is to book a taxi ride or order your shopping online and there is a huge opportunity for government to make greater use of technology to better serve citizens.”
You can register to watch the Tech Summit online here.