Frustrated UK tech business leaders have revealed numerous offers to help the Government develop a working mobile phone app since the start of the Coronavirus crisis.
Speaking in interviews for Future Intelligence’s ‘PassW0rd’ radio programme, ‘Lost in transit’, a number of business leaders expressed their irritation over the development of the now partially abandoned roll-out of the £11m NHS Covid Contact Tracking App still being piloted in the Isle of Wight and their willingness to help the Government deliver a working system.
In another twist to the debacle, experts spoken to by ‘PassW0rd‘ revealed the level of panic in the Government and that secret discussions in March had taken place at ministerial level about whether the Government should seize GPS data from mobile phones using its powers under the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act.
“It was at first thought that the powers did allow for the Government to simply mandate the phone companies to supply GPS data, but it was then thought that it might have to rewrite parts of DRIPA and at the time because of the situation politically, and logistically the Government decided against it,” said one insider.
This was a situation the technology industry could have helped avoid if its offers had been accepted.
Despite announcing the intention to adopt the software developed by Apple and Google Health Minister Matt Hancock and Baroness Dido Harding, Chairwoman of NHS Improvement has also insisted that the Government will still continue with the development of its troubled App concept which if delivered on time tracked nearly a million people and certainly saved lives.
“As it stands, our app won’t work because Apple won’t change their system, but it can measure distance. And their app can’t measure distance well enough, to a standard we are satisfied with,” said the Health Secretary announcing the U-turn.
“So, we’ve agreed to join forces with Google and Apple, to bring the best bits of both systems together.”
Baroness Harding, head of the test-and-trace programme has described the app as the “cherry on the cake” of the overall test-and-trace system, playing down its centrality to the programme.
Tech industry still keen to help solve issues
An announcement that the UK’s tech community have welcomed and still stresses that it is keen to help with.
“I think that given the stakes – people’s lives being at risk and the threat to the economy we should have all come together, the tech companies, the UK population and the Government to deliver a robust, working and cost effective system that satisfied everyone as quickly as possible and the technology community want to do that,” said Frank Joshi, director of Mvine, a company specialising in digital identity.
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