Google joins UK’s AI skills push
The UK government has signed a sweeping partnership with Google Cloud to modernise public services, replace outdated tech systems, and upskill 100,000 civil servants in digital and AI tools by 2030 – a move ministers say could save billions and rescue Whitehall from decades of ‘ball and chain’ IT contracts.
Announced at the Google Summit in London, the deal will see Google Cloud provide technical support to help departments, such as the NHS and local councils, ditch ageing systems and adopt secure, cloud-based technologies.
At the same time, the tech giant will launch a parallel training programme to help civil servants better understand and use emerging technologies, including generative AI.
The partnership, championed by tech secretary Peter Kyle, is part of a broader push to overhaul how the state buys and deploys tech, and help the UK hit the prime minister’s target of having one in ten servants in tech roles by the end of the decade.
“When I negotiate with tech companies, I am negotiating on behalf of the British taxpayer”, Kyle told attendees. “My message to the big technology companies is clear: bring us your best ideas, your best tech, and your best price”.
Breaking up with legacy
The Google Cloud tie-up is also intended to help reduce the government’s reliance on legacy IT systems, some of which date back decades, that currently account for more than a quarter of public sector infrastructure and up to 70 per cent in parts of the NHS and police.
These outdated contracts often lock departments in long-term, expensive arrangements with vendors that limit innovation and expose sensitive data to cyber risks.
Ministers argue that replacing this legacy tech with more agile, secure systems could unlock as much as £45bn in efficiency savings – a figure based on previous government estimates for public sector digital transformation.
Google Cloud’s president of EMEA, Tara Brady, claimed: “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”.
Mind the digital skills gap
The skills pledge – to train 100,000 civil servants by 2030 – comes amid warnings that the UK’s public sector is struggling to keep pace with the speed of AI adoption seen in the private sector.
Recent data from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Accenture indicate that London is outpacing the rest of the UK in AI job creation, training, and investment, raising concerns about a two-tier tech economy.
A recent report revealed that 80 per cent of AI roles are concentrated in the capital, while only a handful of cities outside the M25 are seeing comparable momentum.
Emma Kendrew, UK tech lead of Accenture, said: “To fully capitalise on the economic potential of AI, regions outside of London will also need to compete for talent and infrastructure”.
“The disparity in regional upskilling raises concerns about a growing digital divide in the UK and could hurt long-term competitiveness.”
The government has identified digital skills shortages as one of the biggest threats to future economic growth, with over 13m jobs expected to involve AI in some capacity by 2035.
Around 38 per cent of businesses now cite skills gaps as the top barrier to AI adoption.
The Google deal complements wider moves by other tech firms like AWS, which has committed to training 100,000 UK students in AI, cyber security and data skills by 2030 as part of its ‘skills to jobs tech alliance’.
But for the public sector to truly lead on digital adoption, critics say it will need more than training, including major cultural reform and streamlined procurement systems.