The UK Government has announced a new partnership with Google Cloud to modernise outdated IT, retrain thousands of civil servants with digital skills, and secure better tech deals for the taxpayer.

Under the deal, Google Cloud has agreed to provide a digital makeover for government services used by millions of people every day, including NHS services and local council resources, with the aim of saving taxpayer money by replacing old tech.

The government said that the partnership will help the country’s public services leave behind decades old ‘ball and chain’ legacy contracts which as well as being costly leave essential services vulnerable to cyber-attack.

Although the costs of the deal were not initially laid out, by working with Google, the government said it hopes that departments will no longer be locked into increasingly expensive contracts with third party firms, which can make it difficult to transfer data to modern systems. 

According to the government, more than a quarter of public sector systems currently run on legacy tech, rising to 70% in some police forces and NHS trusts, often with decades old contracts ‘trapping’ them into using outdated servers that are vulnerable to outages and breaches.

Google Cloud will help these organisations move from legacy technology to the latest ‘secure-by-design’ cloud tech, hopefully providing better options for their future needs.

“Without deals like this in place, we had hundreds of public sector organisations going it alone in negotiations with big tech companies – leaving them without the market clout they need to get the best deal,” said technology secretary, Peter Kyle.

“Britain will be using more technology, in more areas and more than ever before. So, my message to the big technology companies is clear: bring us your best ideas, your best tech, and your best price.”

The partnership will also see Google Cloud upskill around 100,000 UK civil servants to use the latest digital and AI technologies within the next five years, helping to meet the prime minister’s pledge to have one in 10 officials as tech experts.

Meanwhile, Google DeepMind will collaborate with technical experts in government to support them in deploying and diffusing new emerging technologies, chasing the £45 billion jackpot that officials think new technology could offer the public sector in efficiency savings.

The new arrangement will also see Google Cloud explore the potential development of a single platform to monitor and respond to cybersecurity issues across the UK government, and will see the two work together to explore the potential of new technologies like quantum computing in the public sector.

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The wide-ranging nature of this partnership means that Google will have access to what until now have remained highly sensitive areas of public services, marking a turning point in the government’s wider push to overhaul its engagement with technology providers. 

“As the country evolves, the flexibility of Google Cloud will help the government lead the AI era,” said Tara Brady, president of Google Cloud EMEA.

“We are deeply committed to empowering the UK public sector with the technical skills and innovative AI-powered solutions required to build a truly modern, secure and efficient digital future, delivering tangible benefits to citizens and driving significant economic value.”