The Parliamentary IT Committee

MPs and Peers founded PITCOM in 1981 to provide a bridge between Parliament and the IT industry. The Committee is an associate Parliamentary Group, complying with House of Commons rules for all-party groups. Its administration is funded by members' annual subscriptions.

PITCOM addresses the public policy issues generated by ICT and their application across the public and private sectors of the UK economy.

Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and a former Treasurer of the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee (PITCOM) was guest of honour at PITCOM’s summer reception on the House of Lords Terrace on 23rd June 2009. The evening was hosted by the Earl of Erroll, and kindly sponsored by Motorola.

Left to right:

Rt Hon Alun Michael MP, PITCOM Council member
Christine Stewart Munro, PITCOM Administrative Secretary
Andrew Miller MP, PITCOM Chairman
Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury
Graeme Hobbs, Chairman of Motorola
The Earl of Erroll, Host
Nigel Fine, Chief Executive of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

• Second series of Digital Birmingham IT comics hits the streets
2 Jul 2009 at 8:00am
Hot on the heels of its hugely popular comic strips teaching kids to pass on their IT skills to other family members, enterprising Digital Birmingham has launched a second series.

• Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust plans Electronic Document & Records Management
2 Jul 2009 at 7:50am
Kainos has been selected by Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GWH) to implement an EDRMS project that will improve the efficiency, control and management of the Trust's corporate documents including departmental policies and procedures.

• New research network to provide high speed connectivity for central Asia
2 Jul 2009 at 7:40am
Central Asian researchers and students will be able to better collaborate with their colleagues across the world, through a new EU-funded high-speed data-communications network.

• Government tells Councils about improvements to Integrated Children’s IT System
2 Jul 2009 at 7:15am
Children’s Minister Delyth Morgan has written to Local Authorities in England outlining a package of improvements for the Integrated Children’s System (ICS), the electronic record-keeping system for social workers, supported by £6.4 million of additional funding.

• NHS South of Tyne & Wear automates its IT support for 3,200 staff
2 Jul 2009 at 7:00am
NHS South of Tyne and Wear has set out to improve IT support for its 3,200 employees using the Kaseya IT automation platform.

• Scotland develops action plan to drive development of renewable energy
2 Jul 2009 at 6:35am
An action plan to drive the development of renewable energy and capitalise on Scotland's natural resources to derive maximum economic benefit was published yesterday.

• Central Office of Information radically overhauls roster of market research agencies
2 Jul 2009 at 6:25am
A total of 108 agencies from across the UK secured a place on one or more of the five lots. 50% of these are new to the framework.

• Second Indian government Web site hacked by cybercriminals
2 Jul 2009 at 5:45am
A second Indian government Web site - operated by the Institute of Remote Sensing - has been compromised for malware purposes, says Finjan Inc., a leader in secure web gateway products and the provider of unified web security solutions for the enterprise market.

• Nominations open for this year's e-Government National Awards
1 Jul 2009 at 8:00am
Nominations open in the e-Government National Awards 2009 – to reward e-government services which help improve citizens' lives & the public sector's efficiency. The call for nominations for the e-Government National Awards 2009 is launched today at www.e-governmentawards.org.uk, and the 11 category winners will receive the UK's highest level commendation for the best e-Government and technology-driven services - services which, through innovative online delivery or IT implementation, have positively transformed the lives of citizens, local communities, business and stakeholder groups.

• Digital Britain Update: the Government's 'Actions & Implementation ' plan
1 Jul 2009 at 7:55am
The Draft Legislative Programme, published yesterday, set out plans for a Digital Economy Bill. The Government is publishing an update on the implementation of those actions in the recent Digital Britain White Paper which do not require primary legislation.

• ICO response to report by the Campaign for Freedom of Information
2 Jul 2009 at 6:51pm
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a statement regarding a new report by the Campaign for Freedom of Information.

• Restoring confidence in local democracy
2 Jul 2009 at 3:32pm
A refreshed offer for voters is needed if we are going to restore trust and confidence in politics Communities Secretary John Denham said today.

• HEALEY ANNOUNCES RADICAL DISMANTLING OF COUNCIL HOUSING FINANCE
30 Jun 2009 at 5:53pm
Councils will be able to keep all their rental income and gain the freedom to manage their housing to meet local need under plans unveiled by John Healey today.

• Operational Note - Civil Service Live 2009
30 Jun 2009 at 4:39pm
The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O?Donnell, and the Dragons? Den star and one of the UK?s leading business entrepreneurs, Peter Jones, are just two of the exciting speakers lined up to attend Civil Service Live 2009 at London?s Olympia next week.

• Healey announces major plans for more homes and fairer lettings to meet local needs
29 Jun 2009 at 5:46pm
As part of the Government?s Building Britain?s Future plans, Housing Minister John Healey has said that construction of thousands of extra homes will begin in a matter of months, thanks to the £1.5 billion pound housing investment announced earlier by the Prime Minister.

• Building Britain?s future growth, jobs and better public services
29 Jun 2009 at 3:36pm
The Prime Minister has today published a plan for Building Britain?s Future. It is a radical vision for a fairer, stronger and more prosperous society.

• Banning age discrimination: consultation launched
29 Jun 2009 at 11:33am
The Government Equalities Office (GEO) today outlined further proposals for a new legal ban on harmful age discrimination, which will make sure older people do not face unfair or substandard treatment when they are buying goods or using services, such as in shops, hospitals, or when accessing car and holiday insurance.

• Snap away on sports day, says ICO
22 Jun 2009 at 2:00pm
Parents wishing to capture the moment their child crosses the finish line at their school sports day should not be deterred by data protection myths. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is reminding parents that the Data Protection Act does not prevent them taking photographs of their children and friends participating in school events.

• Manchester City Council breaches the Data Protection Act
22 Jun 2009 at 1:57pm
The Information Commissioner?s Office (ICO) has found Manchester City Council in breach of the Data Protection Act after the theft of two laptop computers from the Town Hall, one of which contained personal details relating to 1,754 employees at local schools. Neither of the laptops was encrypted nor were they secured to the desks.

• Putting a price on privacy protection
18 Jun 2009 at 10:46am
The Information Commissioner?s Office (ICO) is inviting interested parties to bid to undertake a three-month research project with the aim of developing a sound business case to persuade organisations to invest in proactive privacy protection.

• The Russian connection
The history and growth of Russian datacentres is an interesting and complex one. Sergey Shurshalin discusses the Russian datacentre market, focusing on its rich history and on its prospective future.

• Whither enterprise architecture? - an EA response
There is no single current approach and any bad approach may be dogmatic and overambitious. What Peter Kemp and John McManus attack is actually a straw-man for Enterprise Architecture says Ian Glossop.

• A picture puts numbers in perspective
Training your workforce in financial software can be tricky in terms of efficiency, learner retention and content delivery, says Emily Coltman, company director of Ask M. She suggests screencasting can help overcome the difficulties.

• Improving work performance
Don't train employees - improve their work performance, argues Steve Simons, proprietor of PC Tamers. In this article, he sets out some ways of making people more effective at doing their job.

• Learning from mistakes
By not letting learners make mistakes when learning new software, we've been letting them down, says Tony Coates, Chief Alliance Officer at Assima. He believes the problem can now be addressed by cloning real technology for learners to learn on.

• Virtualisation training - the key to success?
Virtualisation is on the rise - and so is the demand for IT professionals with virtualisation skills. Gary Flood looks at resources and qualifications of the 'Big Three' providers: VMWare, Citrix and Microsoft.

• Test it securely
Suzana Lopes, EMEA VP Sales and Marketing at Pearson VUE, explains the need for rigorous exam security, and looks at how it can be achieved today.

• Who and what defines green IT?
Is the Energy Star rating the be-all and end-all in terms of your green credentials? Melvyn Wray of Allied Telesis discusses the ways in which manufacturers can improve the green credentials of their products.

• Death of the IT profession?
Will we have IT departments in ten years' time? Will we even have an IT profession? Is IT just another utility? These were just some of the questions that were raised at a BCS Thought Leadership Debate on 30 April 2009 called 'IT futures: the death of the IT profession, as we know it?'

• Why ISO 27001 is not enough
Since its publication in October 2005, ISO 27001 has been implemented in many organisations as the best practice for information security management, with over three hundred UK organisations independently certified against the standard.