Science Secretary Peter Kyle has announced the Government will launch a new gov.uk app in June 2025 to reduce paperwork in public services.
The app aims to modernise how citizens interact with Government services, moving away from analogue processes.
“We need to transition Government into the digital age. The way that people interact with banking, commerce and travel services via smartphones and other ways simply isn’t the case with Government and public services,” Kyle told GB News.
He emphasised the need to make Government “fit for the digital age” as almost half of all Government transactions are currently analogue.
Peter Kyle told GB News that the Government hopes to ‘transition into the digital age’
GB News
Kyle highlighted the inefficiencies of current paper-based systems.
“That means 45,000 envelopes opened at the DVLA. It means 100,000 phone calls being answered by HMRC,” he said.
He shared a personal example from his office where a pregnant civil servant faced outdated processes. Her maternity card was sent by post and had to be filled out by hand. She was warned that without the physical card during labour, hospital staff wouldn’t have access to her medical records.
“This is no way to do Government. It is no way to do Government into that during the 2020s going forward,” Kyle stated.
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Kyle detailed plans for the Government to roll out an app for Britons to access services
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The new gov.uk app will include several advanced features to modernise public services.
Users will be able to interact with AI capabilities that provide access to 700,000 pages of Government information through a human chat facility.
A digital wallet will be introduced shortly after the app’s June launch.
“And then by the end of this year, you will have a digital driving license with all of the age verification functions attached to it,” Kyle explained.
Kyle told GB News that having almost half of services in analogue form is ‘no way to do Government’
GB News
Kyle stressed that modernising public services will benefit citizens across the country.
“We are going to fix that by delivering a more efficient and effective civil service and systems in Government and a much better service to people up and down our country,” he said.
Kyle revealed that when he took office seven months ago, he was told a digital driving licence would take more than five years to implement.
“I was told that it would take more than five years and couldn’t be done in one parliament,” he said.
Despite this pessimistic timeline, the Government will deliver the complete app within just 11 months.