Great to discuss Operational Delivery with cross-government leaders and industry peers yesterday at the Government Transformation event co-hosted by AWS and Snowflake. From high-profile AI projects to One log-in and traditional digital services, the transition from piloting to scaling remains a critical phase. It’s where key challenges around accountability, trust, regulatory compliance, and operational resilience often come to the surface. It was insightful to share lessons learned with colleagues across such diverse departments, including James Mitton, Kirstine Dale, Sumitra Varma, Jeremy Gould, Julia Howes, Matthew Lyon and Dimitris Perdikou. Massive thank you to Ayesha Peacock and Darshni Vaghjiani for organising another excellent session... and securing the best terrace in Westminster!

On Thursday, we were proud to sponsor Government Transformation Magazine’s Leaders’ Meet-Up in Westminster. It was an evening of honest, practical conversation about what it really takes to deliver meaningful change across government. A few themes stood out: • Embedding top technical talent accelerates delivery • Lasting impact depends on strong in-house capability, not heavy reliance on contractors • Moving AI from pilots to real outcomes requires better data foundations, clearer scaling pathways, and stronger cross-government collaboration • Many of the biggest barriers are structural and cultural, not technical It was refreshing to hear leaders focus less on hype and more on how to make transformation stick. Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion. These are exactly the conversations that move delivery forward. Amul Batra Stephen Dujakovic Betty Burrell Greig Dowling Ayesha P. James #GovernmentTransformation #PublicSector #DigitalDelivery #AI #Counter

Productive and enjoyable evening at the Government Leaders Meet Up exploring digital skills, operationalising AI and building inter departmental capacity. It was insightful to catch up with people I know, including Sarah Williams Eddie Copeland Greig Dowling and to meet new people such as Amul Batra and Stephen Dujakovic. Eoin Mulgrew invited departments to pitch collaboration opportunities and Counter was insightful in supporting and contributing to the discussion. I am keen to connect with teams working on cross department pilots or capability programmes and happy to share lessons from recent work and explore how we might collaborate. #DigitalSkills #AI #PublicSector #GovTech #Collaboration Eoin Mulgrew , Counter , Eddie Copeland Greig Dowling Amul Batra Stephen Dujakovic Government Transformation Magazine

Great event run tonight by . My big takeaway was that AI is actively being used by lots of different organisations now, it's not just a prototype or idea anymore.

#London bound. Coffee fuelled. Day of planning and action for Counter's strategy to deliver on our mission in the capital. We are partnering tonight with Government Transformation Magazine at their Government Leaders Network Social. I'll be taking the opportunity to address the room and explain to them how Counter's mission is so closely aligned with the government's strategic shift to replace 7000 external contractors with permanent DDaT staff. Generating up to £500 million pounds of savings annually. I'll tell them that we are already delivering on this strategy within one of the most prominent government departments. I'll tell them how we haven't just left that department with talented consultants who are now Civil Servants, but people who have already built evergreen systems and processes that they have will now be able to maintain and iterate on as they establish their long serving civil service careers. Can. Not. Wait. Stephen Dujakovic Angela Williams Chris Hill Betty Burrell Greig Dowling Simon Price, PhD Matthew Clarke Julia Howes Eoin Mulgrew James Smith

Last week, GDS was at Government Transformation North; an event bringing together more than 200 senior leaders in digital, data, and delivery from across government to share insight, accelerate transformation, and reimagine the role of the modern state. As the digital centre of government, we were represented by: 👉 Christine Bellamy, Government Chief Product Officer, delivering a keynote about strengthening public trust in digital government. 👉 Chris Chambers,  Programme Director, National Data Library, sharing on delivering major digital and data programmes in government. 👉 Neil Hall, Deputy Director for Platform Capabilities co-hosting a series of roundtable discussions about Service Modernisation; delivering simpler, more inclusive, and more satisfying digital experiences. The event was a great opportunity to bring government and wider public sector together to reflect on the collective challenges we face, and how we can work together to accelerate digital transformation in our public services.

It was great to be at the Government Transformation Magazine conference today in Manchester. It’s really important to have events in the regions and especially relevant as Manchester is the digital thematic campus for UK Civil Service. I was on a panel discussing my experiences on transformation and government efficiency. We have a huge agenda ahead of us but it was great to hear from speakers across the public sector tackling the same challenges as HM Revenue & Customs Janet Hughes gave a fantastic opening and it was great to hear James Mitton and Simon Price, Ph.D. sharing more of HMRC’s transformation story.

Once again I forgot to take any pictures while I was there, but yesterday’s Government Transformation North event was thought provoking, inspiring and energising for our collective missions to transform public services and the value they add for all of us in society. From transformation strategies, to service modernisation, data sharing, AI governance, agentic AI and cross government insight, driving better decision making, it was a pleasure to be in the company of so many excellent colleagues public & private sector alike. Grateful to have had the opportunity to represent Ministry of Justice UK and grateful to Government Transformation Magazine for organising such an exemplary event with a stellar cast of speakers and sponsors.

It was good to connect with colleagues and transformation partners ahead of the main event today & I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak about the amazing work we are doing in the Civil Service in the North West and our plans for the future.

Epic few days at Government Transformation North. On the panel at the Leaders Dinner and closing panel at the main event sharing our approach in Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to AI and Data strategy, Responsible AI and how I’m approaching strategic priorities as CAIO. Soooo good to give Janet Hughes a squeeze hello and hear her candid enthusiasm and meet new govt leaders delivering great transformation too. Trust came out as a key theme, great round table discussions on AI Case Studies and Responsible AI. I even managed to squeeze in a quick remote presentation to our LCR Innovation Board. Huge thanks to Government Transformation Magazine. More deliberation in my Weeknotes later this week. #AILeadership #ResponsibleAI #AIingovernment

I had the chance to attend the Government Transformation North Summit last Thursday in Manchester, and a few messages really stood out to me as a Data & Analytics professional in the NHS: 1️⃣ Data must be trusted and connected Strong governance, cleaner datasets and fewer siloes are essential for faster, safer decisions in healthcare. 2️⃣ Interoperability is non-negotiable Joined-up systems are the backbone of integrated, patient-centred care. 3️⃣ AI works best when it’s transparent and human-centred Responsible, explainable AI has huge potential but only with the right safeguards and clinical engagement. 4️⃣ Transformation only works when teams collaborate Analysts, clinicians and operational leaders need to shape change together. A great reminder of the direction we need to keep pushing in the NHS: better data, better systems, better outcomes. 🙏 Big thanks to the organisers,Government Transformation Magazine, and to all the speakers, Janet Hughes, James Mitton, Shaukat Ali Khan FBCS, Christine Bellamy, Richard Puttick, John Kelly, Sumitra Varma, Lee Dunn, Ade Bamigboye, Liam Walsh, David Swainston, Simon Short, Joanne Bradshaw, Chris Chambers, Colin Banno-Thornton, Simon Price, Ph.D., Lucia Webster, Kate Caulkin, Ruqaiya Isa ChPP MAPM, Malcolm Casimir, Phillipa Nazari, Frederica Nisha de Silva, Sara Bowley, David Dunbar, Situl Gajjar, Nayyab Naqvi, PhD MBCS, Neil Hall, Verity Hislop, Jane Brine, Dan Tippell MBCS CITP, Molly Adamat, Dean Paulley, Tommaso Spinelli, William Dorrington John Foote, Nigel Bennett, David Mitton, Pete Haddock and participants who made the discussions so insightful including and all those who joined the roundtable sessions.

Heading back to Scotland after an eventful day at Government Transformation North, Manchester. Always good to connect with colleagues from across the UK Civil Service and wider public sector, and to hear about the latest developments on transformation, data and AI. Also good to connect with industry partners. Thanks to Sam Ineson and Sam Parker at Valtech for inviting me to co-host a discussion on AI use cases. Very inspiring and insightful! Government Transformation Magazine Ayesha Peacock

Happy Monday . Last week, I had the opportunity to represent Amazon Web Services (AWS) at the Government Transformation North Summit in Manchester. What a great day !! I co-hosted the Cross Government Data Insights roundtable sessions with Chris Chambers from Government Digital Service, Simon Price, Ph.D. from HM Revenue & Customs, Pritesh Patel at Databricks alongside leaders from Government organisations. A brilliant discussion on how government can accelerate data and AI–driven transformations around Cross Government Insights . Here are the Top 10 Highlight topics of the day: 1️⃣ AI for Data Quality – automating detection of gaps and inconsistencies to build trusted data foundations. 2️⃣ Shared Insight Priorities – aligning on the cross-government metrics that matter most for impact. 3️⃣ National Data Library – a key enabler for consistent, safe, and scalable data sharing. 4️⃣ Amara’s Law – balancing short-term realism with long-term optimism about AI’s potential. 5️⃣ Clear Success Criteria – defining “good enough” early to accelerate delivery and evaluation. 6️⃣ AI Asset Visibility – knowing which models, datasets, and tools exist to reduce duplication. 7️⃣ Operationalising AI – strengthening pipelines, monitoring, and using synthetic data for safe testing. 8️⃣ Incentivising Data Sharing – building cultural and structural motivations to move from silos to collaboration. 9️⃣ Service Definition First – anchoring AI to clear user needs and service outcomes for citizens. 🔟 Improve Internal Data Flows – unlocking early value by fixing interoperability inside departments first. Start with internal Data sharing. A great reminder that transforming citizen services requires collaboration, shared ambition, and strong data foundations. Thanks to some of the great minds we met on the day . Matthew Bottomley Edward Kelly Simon McLellan Katie Goldsmith Lee Spratt Shaukat Ali Khan FBCS Paul Mooney Martha Bennett , and our wonderful AWS colleagues for preparations Joe Reay Deepak Shukla Jon Cook Faye Holt Amazing support from Greig Dowling Tabby Bilborough for being such wonderful hosts and Pritesh Patel for sharing great ideas throughout the day. Upwards and Onwards! 🚀 #aws #generativeai #analytics #databricks #datasharing #insights #publicsector

Leaving my ol' uni stomping ground in Manchester buzzing 🐝 A great couple of days at Government Transformation North discussing the focus on digital and data-driven transformation against the backdrop of the budget. Surprisingly, the B word did not dominate conversations, but it certainly brought into focus the acute need to deliver transformation of services delivered by digital, data and AI. It was a privilege to moderate an enlightening panel at the Leaders dinner with Tiffany St James, Rob Malcomson MBE Today, co-hosting Cross Government Data Insights with Chris Chambers, Simon Price, Ph.D., Harneet Singh, Matthew Bottomley, we were able to bring together views across a number of departments of the interventions needed to realise the compelling opportunities that lay before us to deliver the mission and transform citizen services. It's going to take a concerted effort across the ecosystem to deliver this... let's do it! Finally some great keynotes throughout the day... forgive me for calling out John Kelly & Chris Chambers for detailing what it requires to deliver digital and DATA programmes at scale. Government Transformation Magazine, Neil McIvor, David Mitton, Ignaz Chisuta Fischer, Edward Kelly, Kevin Gray,

Great day at the inaugural #GovernmentTransformationNorth. (Can we start every meeting with an address from Janet Hughes?!) "The average citizen wastes a week and a half of their life every year dealing with government sludge", but Janet reminded us we're all determined to change this. 📈 On the topic of AI as a vehicle for transformation, our own Graham Williamson asked UK Public Sector & industry peers if the lemon was worth the squeeze 🍋🎲 Christine Bellamy brought us back to public #trust being to key to any AI applied to services that matter. 🔒 🔑 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)'s Minister for Transformation, Andrew Western reminded us of how far we've come already with positive change through technology (self-service and paperless approaches on the rise ✔️), and although the mission is daunting, the prize is enormous for all. 🚀 Thank you Government Transformation Magazine, and our wonderful AI Governance roundtable co-hosts, Phillipa Nazari and Richard Puttick. #servicenow #AICT #AIGovernance

A packed few days at Government Transformation Magazine's event in Manchester this week. Great conversation around the tables at Leader's Night, sponsored by Kainos and many other government suppliers. Followed by a day full of human connection, ambition, desire to serve, idea sharing, with the aim of forming partnerships to create amazing digital services that meet citizen needs and save taxpayer money through cross-government collaboration. I particularly liked Richard Baines's presentation on ethical leadership, including this AI generated image representing the challenges in digital delivery, John Kelly's insights into the importance of flexibility and risk when building new platforms, and James Mitton's storytelling on transformation with a purpose. Thank you for hosting Greig Dowling, David Wilde FIoD, FBCS, Assoc CIPD, James S., Tabby Bilborough, Kristian Mower.

Great day at the first Government Transformation conference in Manchester today.

Yesterday, our Chief Technology Officer, William Dorrington 🤘 and our Head of Sales for Central Government, John Foote, joined over 200 senior public sector leaders in Manchester for Government Transformation North. From digital innovation and data‑driven decision making to the role of AI in government, the conversations were all about one thing: creating positive change for citizens. We facilitated a set of round table discussions on Agentic AI adoption in the Public Sector, bringing together participants from across Government to examine trust and confidence, responsible AI frameworks, responsible architectural practices, barriers to adoption, and the role of improved data practice, including data access and sharing, in enabling meaningful use cases. For Kerv, it was inspiring to connect with peers to share ideas, and see how innovative collaboration, technology, and data are powering the next chapter of public service delivery. 👏 A huge thank you to the organisers and everyone we met for the engaging discussions - with a special thanks to our co-hosts Tommaso Spinelli and Nayyab Naqvi for helping make the sessions such a success. We’re excited to keep building on this momentum and supporting the public sector in its transformation journey. Government Transformation Magazine Katherine Mullard Sabina Kuzmiakova Gareth Dowsett #GovernmentTransformation #PublicSectorInnovation #AgenticAI #TechForGood #AIEnablement

Had a great day at #GovernmentTransformationNorth, co‑facilitating round tables on agentic AI and data with Nayyab Naqvi, PhD MBCS, William Dorrington 🤘 and John Foote (Kerv). Big thanks to Chris Bellamy for sharing sharp insights on building public trust in digital services, and to Andrew Western, Minister for Transformation (DWP), for his perspective on driving change across government. Great to hear Martha Bennett (Forrester)'s inspirational talk on AI and Amara's law. Lots of energy in the room and plenty of ideas to take forward! Thanks for another wonderful event!

Honoured to co-host the Service Modernisation discussion at Government Transformation Magazine I shared our team's journey in MoJ Data Engineering, growing from a small team of 5 to over 60 talented engineers. We spoke about how we rebuilt our capability frameworks, secured GDD-approved Analytical Engineering roles, and strengthened collaboration across the directorate. Our Collaboration & Engagement Squad and Centre of Excellence have been fundamental in driving culture, learning and capability uplift across MoJ. It was also fantastic to hear from various speakers across government departments about their progress in data and AI, the challenges they’re navigating, and the innovative ways they’re driving transformation. A great opportunity to meet experts from across the sector and connect with people doing brilliant work in their areas. The discussions were honest, challenging and deeply insightful. It was particularly valuable to understand how different departments are tackling similar issues, from data foundations and governance to talent, operating models, and cross-functional delivery. A great opportunity to reflect on our progress and share our successes with the wider community. Thank you, Government Transformation Magazine, for another well-organised and successful event for the sector, with a joining-up lens. #DigitalTransformation #ProcessImprovement #GenerativeAI #LocalGovernment #ChangeManagement #RedTeaming #AgenticAI #UKPublicSector #CollaborationEngagementSquad #CenterofExcellence

Great start do the very first Government Transformation north Conference. Launching the event during leaders night, and today some round table discussions about how we can work together across sectors. A great chance to collaborate and something pleased we could support. Joanne Bradshaw did a sterling job covering the work we do in the region and what we have planned for 2026. #headofplace #collaboration

I really enjoyed today at Government Transformation North. Great to hear fresh ideas and stories that truly resonate. It was fantastic to connect with people doing incredible work in the public sector. I am excited about what’s possible when we share and collaborate across government. Government Transformation Magazine

What a rewarding and insightful morning co-hosting a series of round tables on #DataInteroperability with support from Dun & Bradstreet at the #governmenttransformationnorth event in Manchester by Government Transformation Magazine. Thank you to all who contributed and to John Kelly of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority for being a fantastic and supportive co-host. IBCA’s mission is incredibly important and valuable, I’d urge everyone to find out more and about the work they are doing and the way they are helping individuals and their friends and families.

How did I not see you! It was a great day ☺️

Honored to deliver a keynote at the Government Transformation Magazine North Summit in Manchester, last week. Key messages that stood out: -Trusted, connected data -Interoperability is non-negotiable -AI must be transparent and human centered -Collaboration drives transformation Big thanks to Government Transformation Magazine and all speakers and participants for such insightful discussions. #GovernmentTransformation #NHS #DataAnalytics #AIinHealthcare #DigitalHealth

Really enjoyable day co-hosting a roundtable on Data Sharing at the Government Transformation Magazine North event for Senior Leaders in Government. Some really valuable conversations involving focusing on the end benefit to the citizen, the value of product and service operating models and the importance of data being discoverable and catalogued to ensured it's true potential is unlocked.

Thanks to the fellow hosts on the table and all those who joined our table. Really interesting discussion and helps highlights growing opportunities to collaborate across agencies. Thanks to Government Transformation Magazine for organising

Congrats all - you are all amazing !

I was fortunate to attend the Government Transformation Magazine Autumn Meet-Up today on the House of Lords terrace. A brilliant opportunity to hear from senior leaders in industry, DWP, HMRC and GDS for updates on implementing the UK's blueprint for modern digital government, various initiatives across departments and the need for true and effective partnerships between the public and private sectors. I loved the thoughts about combing the Transformation and CDIO roles into 1 person at senior board level - increasing the potential for a single strategy for delivery and avoiding the parallel "digital strategy" issue. A good way of avoiding the "othering" of the technologists too (and one for Defence Reform)? Also, the strategies, plans and blueprints that GDS have led on are starting to come across into delivery, drive coherence across government and increase collaboration. That all sounds like goodness to me! As ever, the conversations in the margins (and even in the security queue) were just as stimulating. I'll be reaching out to several people over the coming days to continue those. It's a small world, but I wasn't expecting to meet someone who knew RAF Marham - Andrew Newland those were cool pics and it's good to hear the F35 team are as friendly as ever. Overall there was a real buzz, and I think a sense of cautious optimism. It definitely feels like an exciting time to be around these agendas.

As a self‑confessed histrophile, stepping into the House of Lords yesterday was an experience I couldn’t turn down. Huge thanks to Greig Dowling for the invite and to Government Transformation Magazine for bringing together such a brilliant group of leaders to explore the future of digital government and how we accelerate transformation across the public sector. Entering such a historic building gave me some real perspective: in Data & AI, our role isn’t about shiny tech, it’s about delivering outcomes that matter for citizens. The discussions were packed with insights from how the Spending Review could accelerate AI adoption, to what future government delivery should look like and how we get there.  And a great panel discussion with Helen Wylie and Daljit Rehal FBCS MInstP MIET: A few themes really resonated with me from that disucssion: 🔷 Government doesn’t need more pitches; it needs partners who roll up their sleeves and solve real challenges. 🔷 The real power of AI comes from the groundwork: robust data, modern infrastructure, and a clear strategy. 🔷 We need to run to where the ball is going, not where it has been but anticipating change, not reacting to it. And yes, being in London meant I couldn’t resist a true delicacy: pie and mash (IFKYK). Discussions like these reinforce a simple truth: technology is only valuable when it drives meaningful change for people. Looking forward to the discussion that will follow. HP Michael #GovernmentTransformation #AI #Data #Modernisation #PublicSector #Collaboration #UKGov

A great afternoon spent at the Government Transformation Magazine autumn event at the UK House of Lords. Alongside the intertesting conversations, with Emily M. speaking about spending review and the acceleration of AI and an insightful, honest and refreshing panel with Daljit Rehal FBCS MInstP MIET and Helen Wylie, it was good to catch up with old friends/acquaintances and make some new connections. Thank you James Smith for the invite, it was great meeting you again and Greig Dowling - great event! Karina Singh Adam Brocklesby James Stirling Edward Pikett Fiona McAdoo Dan Cook Daljit Rehal FBCS MInstP MIET Helen Wylie ⭐️ Sharon Moore MBE Sam Parker Ed Irving James Smith Greig Dowling Guthrie Holliday BetterGov Government Transformation Magazine Government Digital Service HM Revenue & Customs DWP Digital

Some thoughts from my day held yesterday in London with Citizen Experience. After a great Leader's Night in my head, we kicked off with Home Office and Honey D particularly with my cu The rest of the morning was hosted by Mark Dunwell N (Service Design), Unit4 Ka Service Race Forum (Open and Liam Walsh (Implemen Some key takeaways for m Strategic digital investm The Summit opened with a AI are now mission-critical change. It was fantastic to thinking at the heart of so AI in action From case studies to round production. Champions ind Citizen-first design Speakers reiterated: don’t Data interoperability & Cross-government data-sh —highlighting the importa Modern workplace & c Hybrid working, digital too agreed that internal cultur

Recently, our Chief Data Officer, Shehroze Junejo, spoke at the Government Transformation Summit, sharing UKGI’s approach to building data maturity through our core pillars of governance and management, skills and capability, and driving change through innovation. Developing digital skills and capability is central to UKGI’s Digital, Data and Analytics Strategy. To support this, our Digital Skills Forum—led by Shehroze—meets regularly to identify opportunities for new digital and data solutions aligned with business needs, as well as to pinpoint skills gaps and how to address them. This ensures UKGI can continue to deliver effectively across all our work and adapt to the evolving digital landscape. #UKGI #DigitalTransformation

Joanna R. describes the transformation of working culture needed to transform government, including dumping the organisational siloes which create duplication and slow everything down. Empowered multi-disciplinary teams are the way forward - and including cyber security colleagues right from the start makes things go even faster! 👏👏👏

Last night, I had the opportunity to attend the Government Transformation Leaders’ Night at the historic Church House, Westminster, as a guest of Oracle, joined by over 100 public sector leaders from across the UK and beyond. It was an insightful evening of discussion and reflection, in the very room where the first Parliament once sat. The keynote from Christine Bellamy, Chief Product Officer at HM Government, was deeply thought-provoking, as was the State of Digital Leadership in Government panel featuring Honey Dacanay (Director General, Digital Policy, Government of Canada), Julian David OBE (CEO techUK), Nick Bolton (CEO Ordnance Survey), and Richard Davies (UK Country Managing Partner, Netcompany). One idea that keeps ringing true consistently: Technology isn’t a project – it’s a process. It is continuous, cultural, and connected. I first started working with government on the RM project for DWP (Oracle HRMS implementation), then on the Central Payment System, Europe’s largest Oracle Financials implementation at the time, and eventually Universal Credit. Alongside private sector clients, I’ve supported digital initiatives at MoJ, MoD, HMRC, BEIS, DfE, Shared Services and beyond, as well as worked with governments internationally. Public Sector transformation is something I’m very familiar with and have seen evolve over the years. However, the conversations last night made it clear: we’re not just delivering digital services anymore – we’re preparing for a digital generation. Enter Gen Alpha (born after 2010) a digitally native generation, who don’t typically browse the internet or use Google the way previous generations do. Their world is built on AI, automation, and immersive content, and they’re growing up in a globally connected environment. Their first point of information may well be a trusted circle of friends, influencers and AI-driven tools. As service designers and delivery leaders, we have to keep evolving, building services that are not just accessible, but truly aligned with how the next generation lives and thinks. Big changes are yet to come and public services must be prepared to meet them. Thank you to the lovely Fiona McAdoo and Oracle team for the invitation, and to everyone who made the evening such a valuable experience.

We’re at the Government Transformation Summit hosted by the Government Transformation Magazine! Today we are exploring effective transformation strategy and practice behind driving meaningful change in government. Change leaders have come together to discuss transformation strategy, implementing and harnessing the power of data and AI, delivering service modernisation, knowledge sharing and user-centric design and experience. Our Client Directors, Sarah Doherty-David and Danielle McCarter, are chairing the Change Management Roundtable, exploring the importance of people and culture in driving meaningful change within government organisations. They are joined by change leaders, Sarah Ormerod - Programme Director, Passport Transformation Programme, Home Office, and Madelaine Simpkin - Deputy Director, Corporate Transformation, DWP. Together, they’re exploring how to drive meaningful, people-centred change in government. At Grayce, we believe successful transformation is rooted in strong leadership, open communication, and the right talent to deliver lasting impact. If you’re passionate about Change Management, we’d love to hear from you! Discover how Grayce can support your transformation journey with our model.

🙏 A big thank you to everyone who joined us at yesterday’s Government Transformation Summit! It was a brilliant day filled with thought-provoking discussions on the power of digital transformation to revolutionise public services, enhance citizen experiences, and drive economic growth across the UK. The energy in the room was inspiring, and it’s clear that we’re at a pivotal moment for change in the public sector. Here are just a few of the standout moments and key takeaways from the day: 🌟 Andrew Western MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transformation at DWP, delivered a compelling keynote on Delivering More with Digital, Data and AI. 📢 One of the most striking insights: 1 in 10 Civil Servants will be in digital roles by 2030. This highlights the scale of transformation ahead - and the urgent need to build digital capability across government. At GRAYCE, we’re proud to be part of the solution, helping to plug the digital skills gap and develop a workforce ready for the 4th industrial revolution. 🌟 Joanna R., Director General for the Customer Services Group at the Home Office, posed the powerful question: “Is Government Ready?” 📢 Her reflections on the importance of talent, innovation, and creating the right structures for success really resonated. At Grayce, we believe in the power of early-career professionals and our Accelerated Development Model is designed to nurture that talent - creating professional spaces for learning, growth, and innovation. It was fantastic to hear leaders like Joanna championing the need for freedom to innovate and the value of investing in people. 🌟 James Mitton, Director General for Enterprise Transformation at HMRC, shared his perspective on how to embed a truly agile mindset across government. 📢 Everything is legacy given today’s pace of change. To keep up, we must make failure cheap, hire people who think differently, and trust good people to deliver. This aligns perfectly with Grayce’s belief that early-career professionals bring the creativity, adaptability, and fresh thinking needed to drive transformation from the ground up. 👏 A huge thank you to all the speakers, panelists, and everyone who joined our roundtable discussions. It’s a fascinating time to be supporting change and transformation across the public sector!

Excellent work James and Ed! 🍻

On Monday night, I had the privilege of attending the Government Transformation Magazine Leaders Night. It was fantastic to join over 100 leaders from across the public and private sectors to share insight, accelerate transformation, and reimagine the role of the modern state. The keynote from Christine Bellamy, Chief Product Officer at HM Government was both inspiring and a clear call to action – challenging us to lead with purpose, embrace change and design for lasting impact. Key themes included: The responsibility of leadership to continually challenge ourselves – questioning the status quo and driving meaningful change. The need to foster greater innovation – not just through technology, but by rethinking how we collaborate, deliver services, and empower people. A bold focus on future generations – and the importance of building services that earn and sustain their trust. A big thank you to our table – John Fitzpatrick, Andrew Pearce, Ade Bamigboye, Selina Holliday, Andy Tyack and Richard Baines- for the great conversation, insights and laughs throughout the evening!

Great couple of days at the Government Transformation Magazine Summit. Good event well run. Key takeaways: I am loving the shift in how we engage and listen to each other at these events. There was a real candour from all in the room and that’s how we will make lasting improvements for citizens. Along the same lines the whole public sector feel was tangible. Central gov listening to local gov, to NHS colleagues to each other. I heard offers of help and collaboration across the whole event. Let’s keep that going it’s gold Suppliers shared insights freely and with a sense of partnerships for outcomes feel. Keep doing that folks, we pay more attention when we aren’t being ‘sold to’ 😉 Ideas are becoming actions…. Speakers were able to share what they were actually doing with AI, with UCD, with data, with cyber, with change…. Our confidence is growing, our ambition is strong and in that place the hurdles (of which there are a few) will be resolved, especially if we continue to speak with the strength of collective voice I heard this week. Oh and on the subject of us needing to hire more pirates. (James Mitton I’m going to be using that one for a while). Capt Cara Thresh Sparrow of our Innovation and Common Services Pirate Ship will be at Think Digital Partners Think Data tomorrow if you want to catch her for a chat 🏴‍☠️ Now for a kip

Great to meet everyone today and discuss all things AI and data. Thanks to both Mercator Digital and Chris Darriet-Jones for co hosting at the table and to all those at Government Transformation Magazine for organising the event.

Wrapping up Government Transformation Magazine Summit on Data and AI with insightful topics on AI adoption in the UK Public Sector. An opportunity to hear our leaders at the leaders night. During the day, an interesting keynote delivered by Simon King (FBCS) bringing our AI opportunities action plan to life with his vision. I am honored for the opportunity to share my thoughts as a panel member on the practical questions around AI enablement and Scale in the Public Sector. Key highlights being: be pragmatic, take risk-aware and assured AI delivery approach where don't repeat yourself, but do it once, scale incremently and iteratively. Lean on our strategic commercial partners. Later, I hosted three roundtables on the topic of "Trustworthy AI" with very kind Diane Barlow sponsored by IBM, Mark Goossens and Giles Hartwright. Trustworthy AI is a difficult topic to navigate around when a few delegates being too strict around their expectations from the AI, where it shall be accurate 100% from the first pass or there shall be a silver bullet solving each and every bias, fairness and ethical challenge right away. I had a realisation that I might be living in a utopian world where my belief and learnings point me towards a way of carefully instrument trust while building an AI empowered application in a modular way and evlauate it for trustworthiness at every layer. But then having more delegates sharing their success stories where teams are taking pragmatic steps in building trust in the AI applications reassured me that it will indeed take time to get it right, we are on the right path. We discussed how do we precieve trust in domain-specific AI apps versus how it is perceived in the generic AI applications. We are carefully building trust in downstream specialised AI use cases by employing streamlined responsible Model for Innovation activities. The delegates shared many great insights around the process they are using that naturally mapped to the Responsible Model for innovation with the trustworthiness at its core given as: 1) Understand the use case requirements, 2) bring in the business domain expert early in the application development lifecycle, 3) Start with the user centered design right from the beginning 4) build transparency and explainability in your solutions 5) evaluate iteratively and incrementally to incrementally build trust 6) know what your AI application offers and what the limitations are 7) Educate and train your users 8) user behaviour and interaction is also important with a feedback loop addressing concerns from the end user. Gladly, networked with my peers in the public sector who are sharing the same energy driving AI adoption in the public sector Amanda S. Svensson, Duncan Brown, Diane Barlow, Tina Churcher, Shehroze Junejo. Catching up with Sumitra Varma is always a bonus. Thank you David Wilde FIoD, FBCS, Assoc CIPD, James Smith, Ed Tillotson.

Delighted to have been part of a thought-provoking roundtable hosted by Government Transformation Magazine, in partnership with Serco and +impact. A valuable opportunity to explore the future of public service transformation!

Congrats to all of you!!

🌟 I'm thrilled to share that I’ve been named in this year’s Government Transformation Top 100 in the Transformation category! 🌟 I’m grateful to the Government Transformation Magazine for this recognition. It’s a privilege to be acknowledged alongside many inspiring colleagues who are driving meaningful change across government and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in public service. This award acknowledges the important work we’re doing at hashtag #CDDO to advance AI adoption, drive innovation, and make government services more effective, efficient, and future-ready. hashtag #GovernmentTransformation hashtag #PublicSectorInnovation hashtag #Transformation hashtag #GovTransSummit hashtag #CDDO

The Government Transformation Magazine Expo and the Data + AI Summit were such a dream. I was beyond delighted to learn that our Revenue Scotland and Office for National Statistics team won the recent Snowflake Public Sector Hackathon! ❄️ Thank you to Charles Baird and Fiona James, here in the photo with me, who I think are visionaries when it comes to government data sharing by enabling and supporting the organisation of events like this hackathon. I'm so proud of everyone in our Sugar Plumb Data Fairies team: Dana Seman Bobulska, Mary Cleaton, Shaurya Bhagat, Lucy Astley-Jones - we were the ultimate team.Thank you immensely to Andrew Newland MBA, Rebecca O'Connor, Timothy Parish, Simon Tobias, Janet Broome, Irfan Rasul, Flora Chu, Tony Hoad and everyone else at Snowflake who supported our team and myself both at the hackathon but also yesterday and today at the Expo - you guys are the GOAT. Last but not least, thank you Ayesha Peacock for giving me the opportunity to be a speaker at the Citizens Theatre and being so kind and helpful. You made my participation in the Expo and therefore my unexpected in person meeting with Duncan Hart possible! This Expo filled me with lots of hope for Data and Digital in the Civil Service. Networking with so many wonderful people, deepening those existing connections but also making new ones further strengthened my conviction that there are numerous do-gooders in our sector and we can achieve great results together to serve the citizens - ourselves - as well as we can!

Conferences have truly become the places where I get to reconnect with friends and engage with world leaders shaping the Data and AI transformation landscape. This morning, I had the privilege of meeting the Under Secretary of State for Transformation at the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Andrew Western, the wonderful Dr. Julia Borggräfe from Metaplan Germany, my friend Richard Patterson from the U.S. Department of State, Marten Kaevats from IEEE, and Ryan Hum from Service Canada. I had the honour to also speak to that crowd with Jason Bett, a few other colleagues from the Government of Canada, and many other countries driving change across the globe. A big thank you to the incredible team - James Smith, David Wilde FIoD, FBCS, Assoc CIPD, Ed Tillotson, Sarah Jeffery, Karolina Przeklas, Rafael, Ella, and staff - for bringing us all together at the beautiful InterContinental London The O2. Here’s to more inspiring conversations and connections! hashtag #AI hashtag #DataTransformation hashtag #Networking hashtag #Leadership hashtag #Innovation