New PSN Compliance Process Goes Live

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has given the green light for the new compliance process for the Public Services Network (PSN).  

The PSN is a high-performance government network that allows public sector organisations to communicate and collaborate more effectively.  

GDS claims that the reason the new compliance process is going live in late May rather than April as initially stated is because it wanted to make sure the public beta was fully tested and feedback was incorporated into documents and guidance.  

Organisations now looking to renew their PSN compliance certificate must now use the new process, which requires documents listed on the PSN GOV.UK page.  

Those who are currently part-way through the old process are able to continue applying for their compliance certificate using this process, providing they submit before the end of June.  

"We made a commitment at the end of last year to make the PSN compliance process simpler, clearer and faster," a post on the Government Technology blog claims.  

"Getting to this point wouldn't have been possible without the co-operation, support and feedback we've had right across the PSN community," it adds.  

News Welcomed By Industry Body  

The news that the new compliance process has gone live has been welcomed by Innopsis, formerly PSNGB, the trade industry association for suppliers to the Network.  

"Innopsis welcomes the steps that GDS has made away from the elements of the compliance regime that imposed increased costs on customers for no tangible benefits," claimed the organisation's information governance director Des Ward.  

"We hope that GDS works collaboratively to build on the successful delivery of open service management and technical interoperability standards that underpin the network platform; a reliable network platform being crucial to deliver on the user needs of both the public and third sectors as we continue the efforts to deliver better, lower cost public services," Ward added. 

However, Innopsis has also warned that GDS still has a long way to go in removing the barriers to effective inter-agency information sharing, claiming that the past must be learnt from.  

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