Peter Kyle, the UK’s Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, spoke at the Google Cloud Summit in London on July 9, 2025. His main message? The government wants to use new technology to make public services better and faster.
The UK government has made a new deal with Google. The plan is to work closely with Google’s AI experts and government tech teams to improve public services. One tool, called “Extract,” uses AI to turn old handwritten documents into digital data quickly. This could help speed up building new homes, 1.5 million homes promised in this government term.
Google also plans to train 100,000 public workers by 2030 to use this new technology. This fits the government’s goal to double the number of digital experts working in public services like the NHS and police.
Kyle said the old technology is a problem.
Many government systems are old, slow, and expensive. Some police and health services still use technology from decades ago. That’s bad for taxpayers and makes services more likely to fail or get hacked. He wants to fix this by moving government systems to the cloud, which should be cheaper and more secure.
This partnership with Google could mean hundreds of millions of pounds spent on UK public sector technology. But Kyle warned that before, many government groups tried to deal with tech companies alone, often paying too much for the wrong products. The government spends £21 billion a year on technology, sometimes buying the same things over and over.
His solution? A big government deal to get better prices and better tech. Plus, he wants to help smaller UK tech companies get a fair chance to win contracts through a new national digital marketplace. This could create more jobs and help the UK economy.
Kyle’s message to tech companies was simple: bring your best ideas and your best prices. The government wants to be a smart buyer and get the most for taxpayers’ money.
So, will this new deal with Google make public services better and faster? It’s too soon to say. But Kyle’s speech showed the government is serious about using technology to improve things.
Kyle talked about the GOV.UK App. He said it’s already more popular than the Bible on the app store. The app will do a lot, it will include a digital wallet, a chatbot, and even a digital driving licence. And the best part? It was built in just one year, much faster than anyone expected.
He said the government is changing how services work. Instead of people trying to fit into complicated government systems, the services will now fit around what people actually need.
