We’re proud to look back at some of those key events, public policy issues and stories involving the BCS community in 2021, a year when the ongoing pandemic only made the value of IT and digital industries clearer.
Next year we have more plans to leverage the expertise and commitment of our members. New specialist groups formed to address the digital divide and support LGTBQ+ professionals. Our new online membership community’s coming launch will transform the way professionals contribute to our conversations with the government, industry, and the media.
We’ll also be developing our profile across our key themes of promoting professionalism, increasing diversity and inclusion, reducing digital poverty and advocating for green IT and its role in tackling the climate crisis.
Thanks to everyone in the community for contributing to our vision and work.
Dr Bill Mitchell OBE, Director of Policy, BCS
COP26 – UN Climate Change Conference
BCS was proud to be in Glasgow for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to report on the tech stories, promote the Barefoot Climate Change Champions education resources, and support OpenUK.
Our members’ poll ahead of the event said cutting the mountain of electronic waste by reusing and recycling tech products should be a top priority. IT Professionals also told us that the government needed far better data to deal with climate change fully.
Alex Bardell, Chair of the Green IT Specialist Group, said: ‘It takes combined political, social and commercial will to put the planet ahead of an ever tighter upgrade cycle.’
Stories from our poll which also looked at the potential of ‘right to repair’ legislation, were widely covered in the media from The Register to City A.M – and hosted on the websites of sector stakeholders like Engineering UK.
BCS was also covered in The ‘i’ newspaper, arguing that the current chip shortage combined with the approach of COP26 provides an opportunity for policymakers, industry and individuals to take e-waste seriously, particularly about mobile devices.
National AI Strategy
The Government used BCS’ advice and guidance on its gov.uk webpage as it launched the National AI Strategy in late September. Dr Bill Mitchell said: ‘The new National AI Strategy gives the UK the best chance of developing a world-class workforce that is inclusive and diverse, with the skills and knowledge to ethically build and deploy AI digital systems that will benefit everyone.’
The strategy emphasises a ten-year plan to promote ethical principles in AI, one of BCS’ key policy asks. It followed the publication of a BCS briefing, Priorities for a National AI Strategy, created in collaboration with BCS’ members, including the Society Board. Our member’s work informed and supported policymakers across the Government during the strategy’s development, our input was most valuable.
We concluded the UK could set a gold standard for professionalism and the ethical use of technology if more support were available to help people from non-tech and diverse backgrounds to engage with and join the sector. This move could also help restore low public trust in the use of AI and algorithms, which a BCS survey found severely lacking in an earlier YouGov poll.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) also interviewed Dr Mitchell for a lead think-piece: Rule Britannia: Can the UK lead the world in AI Standards? stressing key messages of ethics and professionalism.
AI and breast cancer – consultation response
This insight is part of a far broader discussion around the value of professionalism and AI’s effective and safe application. BCS responded to a consultation by the UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) with an optimistic but cautious view about the value of AI for breast cancer screening.
BCS supported the NCS’ proposal that the use of AI for image analysis in breast cancer screening should not be endorsed in the UK at present because of a ‘significant risk of overdiagnosis’. However, the potential of AI for the effective diagnosis of breast cancer in the near future is significant.
Dr Philip Scott, Chair of the BCS Health and Care Executive, was quoted in various media, including the Daily Telegraph and Digital Health.
Patient data warning
With the Health and Care Executive and Society Board, we responded with a clear BCS position on plans to collect NHS patients GP data into a centralised database, where it would be shared for research and other purposes.
Our call to halt the rollout of the patient ‘datastore’ until a more comprehensive consultation and public information campaign had taken place was covered by Computer Weekly, Digital Health, Research Fortnight, and others and reached policy stakeholders. Our work will continue in this area now the government has paused this project ahead of a broader consultation.
Post Office Horizon IT scandal
BCS established a well-publicised position on the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal, working closely with O&E and Society Boards, particularly Dr Sam de Silva, Chair of the Law SG.
We have called for reform to how computer evidence is treated in courts, following the wrongful prosecutions of sub-post managers, as reported by Computer Weekly.
Human review of AI decisions – GDPR review
We also worked with Dr De Silva to call for greater legal clarity to protect the right to human review of decisions made by AI and automation. Our work was widely featured in the media, including the Times legal section, ZDNET and other outlets.
Data: A New Direction consultation
These views form part of an upcoming consultation response on Data: A New Direction, in which the government asks stakeholders for a review on changes to current GDPR legislation; BCS stressed the need for responsible innovation and ethical, professional standards of practice across all data usage, particularly by automated systems.
Facebook outage
When WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram suffered a prolonged outage in early October, we worked with Adam Leon Smith, Chair of the BCS Software Testing SG, to provide a rapid response commentary as the story broke. Adam’s analysis was covered by national media from the Guardian to the Mail, further establishing our reputation for insight on this visible tech issue. Adam said: ‘Many organisations now define their physical infrastructure as code, but most do not apply the same level of testing rigour when they change that code, as they would when changing their core business logic.’
Tackling social media abuse and online safety
Following the online racial abuse of England footballers following the Euro 2020 final, Director of Policy Dr Bill Mitchell was invited to speak on Sky Sports News, BBC, LBC radio.
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