The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has put out guidance to help public sector bodies that want to house their applications and workloads in overseas data centers.
This guidance suggests a “multi-region approach” to ensure better workload resilience. It recognizes that to do this, organizations might need to use cloud services located outside the UK. The document clarifies that this isn’t a shift in policy. It reinforces existing rules: public sector organizations can store and process government data classified as ‘official’ in overseas data centers—provided they meet certain legal, data protection, and security standards. There’s no strict rule that says this data has to stay in the UK.
The guidance points out that many public sector organizations are already using software-as-a-service products hosted outside the UK. DSIT hopes to encourage more organizations to follow suit. Sticking only to UK-hosted services might cause public sector bodies to miss out on better pricing and advanced technology offered elsewhere. Smaller vendors often struggle to provide comprehensive services everywhere because of high costs and complications.
There’s a practical angle too: the current distribution of public cloud regions in the UK may not always meet the disaster recovery needs of these organizations. In some cases, it makes sense to consider overseas options to ensure they can bounce back effectively.
In their announcement, DSIT stated that allowing more public sector data to be managed by overseas entities could enhance competition and improve resilience, all without undermining the UK’s strict data and security rules. This guidance was developed with input from key players, including the Central Digital and Data Office, the National Cyber Security Centre, and others.
The goal is to make sure public sector organizations can negotiate better deals for cloud tech and make their digital systems more robust. Feryal Clark, the artificial intelligence and digital government minister, emphasized the aim to overcome barriers that have slowed down essential public services due to outdated technology. She believes that embracing global innovation will provide more tools for improving services and enhancing resilience while keeping costs down. This approach will ensure that security and compliance are integral to the digital transformation journey, not an afterthought.