The MoU will remain in effect for 3 years and supports the long-standing partnership between the two agencies and helps to strengthen collaboration in the design and delivery of digital government public services.

The signing of the MoU took place on 4 July 2022 at 10 Whitechapel High Street, London. Representing the agencies to sign the MoU were Mr. Kok Ping Soon, Chief Executive of GovTech Singapore and Mr. Tom Read, Chief Executive Officer and Director General of Government Digital Service (GDS) UK.

Providing digital government services

Both the UK and Singapore are widely recognised as digital leaders and take an active role in shaping international standards and discussions in the digital government space.

The formalisation of both countries’ cooperation and collaboration is backed by their respective recognition of the importance of providing digital government services, and signals their intent to lock in the gains from the rapid digitalisation from the last three years. This MoU follows the signing of the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (UKSDEA) that came into force on 14 June 2022.

In recent years, Singapore has invested heavily in Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT), taking a holistic digital society approach by investing in their digital infrastructure, developing private sector digital capability, and setting aspirational digital government agendas.

The MoU will cover not only sharing know-how and approaches to building digital services, but also exploring new ways of working that help build more effective, efficient and economical government digital services in the long term.

Continuing the digital government partnership

Since the signing of the first MoU in 2019, there have been a number of ongoing activities between GDS and agencies across Singapore’s public sector for personalisation.

1. GDS and GovTech have held knowledge exchanges on life event design approaches, with a particular focus on priority events, personalisation and use of data to underpin this work.
2. GovTech and UK GDS have started exchanging knowledge and working toward mutual recognition of UK and Singapore digital identities through pilots.
3. GDS supported a review of the data security regime in Singapore’s public sector. GDS Information Assurance Unit shared their experience and best practices on data security, which were helpful to Singapore’s Public Sector Data Security Review Committee (PSDSRC) in developing recommendations on data security processes and initiatives.
4. In October 2020, GDS and GovTech met to discuss respective national cloud strategies, with a particular focus on standards, security and the types of data that can be held in different environments.

MoU and beyond

Bolstered by our close and harmonious partnership, GDS participates in two multilateral working groups for the Digital Government Exchange (DGX). DGX is an annual high-level conference run by the Singapore government and is attended by international public sector leaders from jurisdictions that have made significant progress in digital government.

With a view to enabling each other to become better at what they do, GDS and GovTech will continue to collaborate and cooperate, sharing the knowledge and expertise from both sides to deliver better results for both countries.

The Environment Agency and its partners, Derbyshire County Council and Derbyshire Dales District Council, are holding a second community drop in event in Matlock, Derbyshire on Thursday 14 July from 2pm to 8pm.

The event offers an opportunity for locals to find out more about the Environment Agency’s work to restore flood protection for 50 homes and businesses in the town and view the designs for the new replacement flood wall.

It also gives visitors the chance to learn more about the partnership plan to activate two way traffic on Matlock Bridge while part of the A6 is closed to allow for construction of the replacement flood wall.

Members of the project team will also be on hand to discuss other key matters of interest to people including heritage, environmental enhancements, water based recreation and flood risk contingency plans.

The event will be held in the large hall at:

Naomi Doughty, Project Manager for the Environment Agency, said:

Following on from our first well-attended community event in May, we have responded to feedback from attendees who told us they would like to know more about the replacement flood wall design.

The event will enable visitors to see the new designs and allow us to make any necessary adjustments following their feedback. Members of the public will also be able to learn more about the construction programme that is due to start in August and the likely impacts of the project such as vibration, noise and hours of operation.

We have extended the opening hours for the event to allow more people to have the chance to come along and find out about our long-term plans to reinstate the flood protection for Matlock.

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, said:

I’m pleased to see the work underway in Matlock and would encourage local residents to go along to the meeting to find out more about the Environment Agency plans for the flood defences.

Tim Braund, Director of Regulatory Services at Derbyshire Dales District Council, said:

Derbyshire Dales District Council is pleased to be a part of this essential project and we would like to remind residents and visitors that Matlock remains open for business during the ongoing works.

More information about the flood defence project can be found on the dedicated webpage.