Digital Marketplace smashes £1bn barrier

G-Cloud framework makes up the lion's share of spending

Spending through the government's Digital Marketplace, home of the G-Cloud and Digital Services frameworks, has broken the £1bn sales barrier, officials said yesterday.

Minister for the Cabinet Office Matt Hancock made the announcement yesterday as the government's digital conference Sprint was held in London.

He took to Twitter thereafter to spread the news.

"We now procure £1bn through the Digital Marketplace - saving £1 for every £1 spent - and 52 per cent now from SMEs across Britain," he tweeted.

The Digital Marketplace is the umbrella organisation for G-Cloud, which was set up in 2012, and the Digital Services framework, which is set to be scrapped imminently in favour of Digital Outcomes and Specialists.

Although Hancock made the announcement yesterday, the detailed breakdown of the duo's most recent sales data has yet to be published online.

G-Cloud is the significantly larger of the two frameworks. According to the most recent data from December, some £903m had been spent through it, while the figure for the Digital Services framework stood at just £37m.

Elsewhere at Sprint, the government announced the arrival of a new taskforce of senior digital bigwigs who will advise the government on all things tech.

The advisory board will meet quarterly and will discuss how to deliver "world-beating digital public services".

Representatives from Facebook, Goldman Sachs, LoveFilm and Lastminute.com are on the board (full list below).

Hancock said: "We are recasting the relationship between the citizen and the state - all with the goal of making people's lives better.

"I am thrilled to have these experts on board and look forward to working closely with them to discover and build the new digital infrastructure."

Advisory board members

Chairman: Executive director of the Government Digital Service Stephen Foreshew-Cain

Members:
Richard Allan - director of policy for Europe at Facebook
Dr Sue Black - senior research associate at UCL and founder and CEO at Savvify
Joanne Hannaford - global co-head of enterprise platforms, Goldman Sachs
Hermann Hauser - co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners
Brent Hoberman - co-founder at Founders Factory
Saul Klein - CEO of LoveFilm
Martha Lane-Fox - co-founder of Lastminute.com
Brian McBride - chairman of ASOS and former UK managing director of Amazon
Herman Narula - CEO at Improbable
Nigel Shadbolt - chairman of The Open Data Institute
Monique Shivanandan - group CIO at Aviva
Wendy Tan White - general partner at Entrepreneur First
Vanessa Vallely - founder of WeAreTheCity.com