Skip to main content

Author Archives: jerry.barnett

Older posts

How AI is helping government secure and modernise its systems

Posted on by

Two recent announcements show that the UK government has put AI to work to evaluate its own systems: the first relates to finding security weaknesses before attackers do, while the second is dedicated to making sense of older systems so they can be modernised. Together they point to uses of AI in the public sector with the potential to improve security, reduce risk or cut costs.

Finding weak spots before attackers do

On 12 October, AI Minister Kanishka Narayan announced that the government will use advanced AI models to strengthen cyber defences across public sector systems, stating “I want Britain to become one of the hardest countries in the world to attack using artificial intelligence”. The move builds on two pilots that have already helped identify and fix more than a thousand potential vulnerabilities across government systems and detect potential threats.

Reporting on the announcement puts the figure at 1,352 vulnerabilities, found across more than 548 code repositories in 18 government departments. In one earlier month-long exercise, run through weekly hackathons by the Government Cyber Coordination Centre, AI models analysed source code and explored possible attack paths. Security specialists then reviewed the findings, filtered out false positives and passed genuine issues on for fixing. All critical weaknesses from that exercise were remediated, with no evidence of exploitation, at an AI usage cost of £13,000.

The government is now extending the programme to more public sector systems. It is also looking at strengthening the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to address AI-related risks to essential services, and working with the National Cyber Security Centre and the AI Security Institute on how to respond to serious incidents involving autonomous AI agents.

Making sense of legacy technology

Two days later, the Government Digital Service (GDS) published the results of another significant AI-based project, which set out to analyse legacy systems. As the team points out, one of the biggest barriers to modernisation is simply understanding how existing systems work. Documentation is often incomplete, knowledge sits with a few specialists (or has been lost completely), and some systems rely on ageing technologies understood by shrinking pools of engineers.

The pilots, run with the Student Loans Company, the UK Hydrographic Office, the Met Office and delivery partner Kainos, found that analysis tasks estimated to take weeks could be completed in a matter of hours.

At the Student Loans Company, teams analysed 33 applications written in Clojure (a niche programming language launched in 2007). The work was expected to take around five weeks, but was completed in less than a day, giving a clear view of the applications and their dependencies to allow well-informed migration planning.

At the UK Hydrographic Office, a 20-year-old desktop application with no automated tests went from 0% to 96% test coverage. Regression testing that previously took around 15 days of manual effort now takes about 30 minutes, giving engineers more confidence to make changes safely.

GDS is now developing a playbook of good practice for organisations looking to apply AI to legacy technology challenges.

The common thread: AI supports and improves delivery, rather than replacing it

Both programmes share the same approach. AI does the heavy lifting of searching, mapping and testing, while experienced people stay in charge of judgement and decisions. In the cyber pilots, security teams validated every finding and managed remediation through existing processes. In the legacy pilots, GDS was clear that success depended on clear ownership, access to systems, experienced technical teams and established delivery processes.

As the GDS team put it, AI amplified existing strengths and weaknesses rather than replacing them. Used well, it speeds up analysis and improves visibility; used without proper controls, it can accelerate poor decision making.

For public sector organisations, this is a useful counterweight to the hype. Some of the most immediate value from AI may come not from new citizen-facing services but from the less visible work of securing, understanding and improving the systems that already underpin public services.

What this means for buyers and suppliers

For public sector buyers, these results suggest that AI-assisted discovery, testing and security review can make modernisation programmes easier to plan and deliver, especially where updates to legacy systems have been put off because potential risk was considered too high.

For suppliers, particularly specialist SMEs, there is clear demand for teams that combine AI tooling with strong engineering, security and delivery skills. Government is signalling that it values partners who can show measurable results while keeping humans firmly in control.

Bramble Hub works with a network of specialist AI delivery partners. Through frameworks including Digital Outcomes and Specialists 7, G-Cloud 15 and Technology Services 4, we give public sector customers a simple, compliant route to the AI expertise they need to secure and modernise their systems.

Number 10 North puts digital capability at the heart of devolution

Posted on by

The UK’s new drive towards devolution is changing who buys technology in England – the latest announcements make that shift much more concrete. On 21 August, the government marked the first month of No10 North by confirming that high-performing civil servants will be seconded into mayoral authorities from autumn. In the initial pilot, each of the 18 existing mayoral strategic authorities is expected to receive between five and ten civil servants for six to nine months. The package has been described as the largest ever transfer of Whitehall capacity to local leaders, and is a direct response to requests made by mayors at the first meeting of the National Economic Council at the end of July.

The system allows local leaders to request the skills they need rather than this decision being made for them by central government. Alongside the secondments sit a Digital Devolution programme led by the Government Digital Service, an expansion of the Future Leaders Scheme to mayoral and local authority officials, and a Civil Service Fast Stream pilot in Yorkshire and Humber, with applications opening in October and successful candidates starting in September 2027.

The Digital Devolution programme is the part that should interest technology suppliers most. Its stated aims include creating a common data-sharing model between Whitehall and mayoral authorities, expanding AI and data skills training, and helping local leaders use technology to improve services and support economic growth.

A new kind of customer

Mayoral strategic authorities typically hold responsibility for transport, skills, housing and economic development across a wide area. They work through local authorities rather than delivering directly, and they run comparatively small core teams. That combination produces a distinctive set of technology requirements: data platforms that join up information across organisations, analytics to support decision making, and digital services designed around the specific needs of a region.

Seconded civil servants will bring programme and delivery experience, but their commitment is only for a few months, so they are likely to have an appetite for work that can be scoped, delivered and handed over within a short timeframe.

How suppliers could respond

The data-sharing agenda: A common model between central and mayoral government is a substantial piece of work covering standards, governance, information assurance and the practicalities of moving data between organisations with different systems and different risk appetites. Suppliers with real experience of multi-organisation data sharing, particularly in transport, skills or housing, are likely to be in demand.

Capability building: An explicit goal of this package is to leave local authorities more capable, and less dependent. Proposals that include skills transfer, documentation and a clear exit position will read far better than those that do not.

Engage early and locally: Mayoral authorities publish their own strategies and investment plans, and the priorities vary considerably between regions. Understanding what a particular mayor has promised their area is a better starting point than a generic public sector pitch.

At Bramble Hub, we have long worked with partners supplying services and products to local and regional government. Our thin-prime model exists to make that route simpler for both sides, giving authorities a straightforward contracting arrangement and giving our partners a clear path to delivery.

Councils turn to AI as financial pressure mounts

Posted on by

Local government is entering yet another difficult financial year, and technology is being asked to carry a growing share of the load. According to research from the BBC Shared Data Unit, almost every UK local authority plans to reduce services this financial year. The 218 upper-tier councils have set out £3.2bn of cuts, covering everything from less frequent bin collections to closed heritage attractions and withdrawn bus routes. Even if those savings are made in full, councils expect to make further cuts of £3.8 billion by the end of 2027/28 to balance their books.

Against that backdrop, budget-saving AI projects are being pushed forward. Medway Council is already using AI to support the production of Education, Health and Care Plans and to process invoices. West Northamptonshire and North Northamptonshire have both looked to AI-assisted analysis as part of closing a combined funding gap, with reported savings opportunities running to almost £50 million. Solihull Council has appointed a partner to run the first phase of an AI transformation discovery programme.

Central government is now beginning to fund a number of such ventures. On 15 September, 14 English councils currently receiving Exceptional Financial Support were allocated a share of £91m, split as £41m in 2026/27 and £50m in 2027/28, to redesign high-cost services and adopt AI. The named areas are the ones that dominate council budgets: adult social care, children’s services, temporary accommodation and special education and needs (SEND) provision. Redbridge is deploying AI-enabled home technology that detects risks such as falls so that residents can live independently for longer, while Trafford is investing in a single integrated platform to improve team collaboration.

The sense of urgency makes caution more important, not less. AI is not an instant solution for a system under severe strain, and there are legitimate ethical questions about using automated tools to help assess the level of care that vulnerable people need. The Local Government Association has estimated that councils would need around 25% more funding within three years simply to maintain current services, which puts the scale of any technology-driven saving into perspective.

What this means for our partners

The opportunity is real, but the bar is higher than it was two years ago. Councils under exceptional financial support are not buying experiments. They are buying measurable reductions in the cost of delivering a specific service, usually within a single budget cycle, and they need to be able to show their auditors and their residents how the saving was made.

For suppliers with genuine local government experience, this is a moment to sell outcomes rather than product. The councils receiving this funding have been asked to establish approaches that can be replicated across the wider sector, which means well-documented, transferable work has a value well beyond the original contract.

At Bramble Hub, we work with suppliers delivering exactly this kind of service redesign, and our role as prime supplier is to make the commercial route straightforward so our partners can concentrate on delivery.

Sovereign AI: what the £500 million fund means for British AI companies

Posted on by

The UK government’s Sovereign AI fund is a state-backed venture capital fund that invests directly in homegrown AI companies. Launched in April with up to £500 million, it grew out of the AI Opportunities Action Plan and is run as a standalone unit within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

“An AI maker, not an AI taker”

The fund’s stated mission is to back Britain’s AI founders “to start here, scale here, and win everywhere”. Behind that lies a familiar problem. The UK has the third-largest AI market in the world and leads Europe on tech unicorns, but its most promising companies have often had to raise growth capital abroad, taking expertise, decision-making and economic value with them. Government describes the ambition as making the UK “an AI maker, not just an AI taker”, reducing reliance on a small number of overseas technology firms for critical capability.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall put it directly at the launch: “We believe in Britain and we are betting on Britain. My message to British founders and innovators is clear – we will ensure you never have to choose between your ambition and your home, because Britain will give you both.”

More than just investment

Sovereign AI invests on market terms and at market speed, with delegated authority intended to match the pace of private investors. Typical investments run from £1 million to £10 million, from pre-seed through to growth stage, usually alongside private co-investors.

Capital is only part of the offer. Portfolio companies can receive fully funded access to the UK’s largest AI supercomputers, with up to one million GPU hours available per startup through the AI Research Resource. Every company receiving investment will also be awarded ten cost-free fast-tracked visas for research and development talent, with visa decisions inside one working day. There is also access to the UK’s research base, curated national datasets, grants for building strategic AI assets, and public procurement opportunities.

Priority areas include compute and infrastructure, foundation models, AI in health and life sciences, scientific discovery, and trust and safety. Eligibility is anchored on a genuine UK presence: founders, leadership, headquarters or a substantial share of talent based in Britain.

Government as first customer

For suppliers used to public sector work, the procurement dimension matters most. In August the government launched a £100 million Sovereign AI R&D Procurement Scheme, opening competitions in which departments act as an early customer for demonstrator-stage technology, with upfront payments available and companies retaining the intellectual property they create.

AI Minister Kanishka Narayan framed the thinking clearly: “When we said that Sovereign AI would put the heft of a nation behind Britain’s AI founders, we meant it. Every year the British state spends billions procuring products and solutions tackling some of the most important challenges facing society – from health, to our national defence. This first-of-its-kind scheme will open up these opportunities to the British AI innovators whose ideas could make the biggest difference.”

The fund has moved quickly, with equity investments including chip developer OLIX and compute orchestration startup Callosum, and compute allocations to a wider group of British firms. Britain has a strong mix of talent, capital, and infrastructure – Sovereign AI’s job is to ensure that we continue to punch above our weight as the sector continues to grow globally.

Bramble Hub secures place on G-Cloud 15

Posted on by

Bramble Hub has been awarded a place on G-Cloud 15, the latest UK cloud procurement framework from Government Commercial Agency (GCA). The new framework will consolidate earlier frameworks and is designed to make it easier for public-sector organisations to buy cloud hosting, software and support services.

G-Cloud 15 is designed to replace three other GCA frameworks:

  • G-Cloud 14 (Lots 1-3), which covered cloud hosting, support and software,
  • G-Cloud 14 (Lot 4), which covered larger, bespoke cloud projects, and
  • Cloud Compute 2, covering cloud computing services.

G-Cloud 15 brings key changes for buyers and suppliers, including allowing call-off contracts with or without competition, which gives public bodies more flexibility in how they procure services.

For Bramble Hub, this development further strengthens our position as a prime supplier to the public sector and expands our ability to support organisations looking for a straightforward route to procuring cloud services and products.

Cloud Formations to shape billing platform improvements for Black Country Pathology Services

Posted on by

Bramble Hub and our partner Cloud Formations have won a contract with Black Country Pathology Services to deliver a discovery and design engagement for the organisation’s billing platform.

The work brings together business and technical specialists to assess the current platform and data architecture, and to design a future state approach with a clear technical roadmap and delivery plan.

Black Country Pathology Services is one of the most established pathology networks in England, formed as a partnership between four NHS trusts.

Cloud Formations is a UK data and AI transformation specialist that helps organisations unlock value from their data more quickly and at lower cost. The company combines outcome-led consulting with its own accelerators across data strategy, governance, platform build, data science and visualisation, alongside training that leaves lasting capability with the customer’s own teams.

The contract was awarded through the Back Office Software 2 framework (BOS2), which provides public sector buyers with a route to specialist software solutions and associated services. Bramble Hub is a thin-prime supplier on both lots of the framework, enabling our partners to deliver to organisations across the UK public sector.

Whitespace to deliver waste management solution for South Ribble

Posted on by

Bramble Hub and our partner Whitespace Work Software have won a contract with South Ribble Borough Council to support the council’s waste and environmental services.

Whitespace will provide its Municipal platform along with implementation and ongoing support and maintenance, extending the council’s existing use of the software to cover its commercial waste service. The contract runs for three years from July 2026.

South Ribble Borough Council is a district authority in Lancashire serving around 116,000 residents across Leyland, Penwortham, Bamber Bridge and the surrounding villages.

Whitespace Work Software was founded in 2005 and is a leading UK supplier of waste and environmental software to local authorities and public-sector contractors, with its products installed in more than 100 UK local authority operations and over 10 public-sector contractors. Its Municipal platform gives councils a single operational system for scheduled and ad-hoc collections, in-cab working, route and round planning, asset management and resident interactions, and integrates with existing council systems such as CRM.

The contract was awarded through the Vertical Application Solutions framework (VAS), operated by the Government Commercial Agency, on which Bramble Hub is a supplier across all five lots.

Clever Together to support NHS England engagement programme

Posted on by

Bramble Hub and our partner Clever Together have won a contract with NHS England to support Amos into Action, a national engagement programme for maternity and neonatal staff.

Clever Together will support the design and delivery of the programme, helping NHS England gather insights that can inform meaningful, sustainable change.

NHS England leads and supports the delivery of health and care services across England, working with partners to improve outcomes, quality and access. Amos into Action sits alongside NHS England’s wider response to the independent investigation into maternity and neonatal services, including a 10 Point Plan for urgent action.

Clever Together is a specialist engagement and insight partner that helps organisations involve people in complex conversations and turn participation into practical action.

The contract was awarded through the NHS Shared Business Services Consultancy and Advisory Services for Health framework.

Bramble Hub and S&W win ORR financial support contract

Posted on by

Bramble Hub and our partner S&W have won a contract with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to provide flexible financial support services.

S&W will make experienced finance consultants available to support ORR’s requirements as they arise. The engagement is designed to provide access to specialist capability in an agile, responsive way, with individual pieces of work agreed around agreed deliverables and milestones.

ORR is the independent safety and economic regulator for Britain’s railways and monitors National Highways. Its work helps protect the interests of rail and road users by improving safety, value and performance across these essential networks.

S&W is a UK professional services firm offering tax, audit, advisory, consulting and business outsourcing services. Its specialist expertise across financial advisory, reporting, governance, systems, processes and controls will support the requirements of this engagement.

The contract was awarded through the GCA Management Consultancy Framework 4. Bramble Hub is proud to be the prime supplier, working with S&W to bring specialist financial capability to ORR.

Navigating Framework Changes: The Coming Launch of G-Cloud 15 and the Expiry of Big Data & Analytics

Posted on by

August 2026 brings two significant announcements for technology suppliers and buyers: the arrival of the G-Cloud 15 framework and the expiry of the Big Data and Analytics (BDA) agreement.

G-Cloud 15

Following recent award decisions, Government Commercial Agency’s (GCA’s) flagship cloud procurement vehicle, G-Cloud 15, will launch (date TBC) to replace the outgoing G-Cloud 14 framework, which will close in October; for now, customers should continue to use G-Cloud 14 to procure cloud services. We are delighted to confirm that Bramble Hub will be a supplier on G-Cloud 15 when it opens to buyers. This ensures our public sector partners can continue to seamlessly procure vital cloud software, hosting, and support services through us under the latest procurement regulations.

Saying goodbye to Big Data & Analytics

Concurrently, the Big Data and Analytics framework (RM6195) officially reached the end of its term on 8 August and will not be renewed. Bramble Hub was a supplier on BDA, helping public sector organisations leverage data-driven insights and advanced analytics solutions over the course of the agreement.

A commitment to continued delivery

While individual frameworks naturally retire and refresh, our commitment to connecting the public sector with top-tier technology partners remains steadfast. Despite the closure of BDA, Bramble Hub remains a supplier on almost 20 active procurement frameworks. This portfolio ensures that our customers and partners still have multiple compliant, highly efficient routes to market for all their digital, data, and technology requirements.

Whether you are planning to procure services through the new G-Cloud 15 framework or seeking alternative compliant routes for your data projects following the end of BDA, our team is ready to help you navigate the best pathways.

Older posts