Delivering for Citizens Award Shortlist
Sponsored by
AI Diagnostic Fund Programme
Department of Health and Social Care
The £21m AI Diagnostic Fund (AIDF) has successfully deployed AI diagnostic support tools across over half of NHS hospital trusts in England, exceeding the original target of 40–50 trusts while delivering under budget at £19m. Recognised as a Prime Minister’s AI Exemplar Programme and highlighted in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, the AIDF is projected to significantly reduce turnaround times for priority lung cancer scans, benefiting thousands of patients nationwide.
Amid rising NHS demand, workforce pressures, and an ageing population, the NHS AI Lab identified chest X-rays (CXR) as the highest-impact use case due to their volume, clinical importance, and technical readiness. Leveraging ring-fenced funding, bespoke commercial structures, and central support, the team enabled imaging networks to bid for funding, procure AI tools, and deploy them with guided support.
Sixty-six trusts are participating with fifty-eight already live and the remainder targeting full implementation by end of 2025. Over one-third of CXRs and 13% of chest CT scans across the NHS are now being routinely augmented by AI and to date over 2.4 million chest x-rays have been supported as a result of the AIDF. Early data on benefits is showing reductions in turnaround times, leading to quicker follow-on diagnostic testing. There has also been an improvement in 24-hour reporting benchmarks, with one dramatic example seeing a network increase compliance from 4% to 90% within two weeks.
Beyond lung cancer, emergent benefits include early detection of vertebral fragility fractures, sepsis identification, and improved monitoring of nasogastric and feeding tubes. The programme demonstrates scalable, measurable impact, improving patient outcomes and laying a foundation for broader AI adoption across the NHS.
School Food Unit
Department for Education
The team led the largest expansion of Free School Meals (FSM) in a generation, raising the threshold from £7,400 to include all children on Universal Credit. This landmark reform will provide nutritious meals to an additional 500,000 children annually and lift 100,000 out of relative poverty over the course of the Parliament, contributing to the government’s Child Poverty Strategy, Food Strategy, 10-Year Health Plan, and wider education and growth objectives.
The initiative required extensive cross-government collaboration. The team built a compelling evidence base, linking FSM to long-term social, economic, and health benefits, including international studies on nutrition and lifelong outcomes. Working closely with DfE, DHSC, Defra, and other stakeholders, they developed healthier, more sustainable school meal options, aligned with the ongoing revision of the School Food Standards – the first in a decade. They also navigated legislative and financial challenges, securing ministerial approval and funding through No10 and HMT, demonstrating a clear return on investment.
The reform exemplifies the Civil Service values of integrity, objectivity, and commitment to public service, delivering tangible outcomes for children, families, and society. By combining rigorous analysis, cross-departmental coordination, and stakeholder engagement, the team achieved a generational change in school meals, addressing child poverty, improving health outcomes, and supporting local growth and sustainability.
ScotAccount
Scottish Government
Launched by the Scottish Government in 2023, ScotAccount provides a secure, simple way for people to access public services online. It allows users to sign in with a single account, verify their identity, if needed, and control their information, reducing duplication and inefficiencies across services in the Scottish public sector.
ScotAccount exemplifies innovative, reusable, scalable digital infrastructure, offering biometric and non-biometric verification, and enabling verified data to be reused across services. It addresses previous barriers where multiple logins, repeated identity checks, and manual processing hindered users and services. Designed for inclusivity, this voluntary service also supports people without photo ID and meets accessibility standards through ongoing user-centred design and testing involving over 1,000 diverse users.
Delivering measurable benefits for public services, ScotAccount provides easy integration with other systems, reduces manual processing and service support contact, while enhancing privacy and fraud protection. Current usage sees over 12,500 accounts created weekly, with 80% successfully verifying identity and 99% choosing to save their data for reuse, demonstrating trust and satisfaction.
ScotAccount is transforming access to services such as disclosure checks, witness statements, debt management, registration for tobacco and vape sales, and more, saving thousands of pounds per week in postage and processing for disclosure checks alone. It underpins the Scottish Government’s Digital Strategy, providing an inclusive, reliable, and cost-efficient digital identity solution for Scotland.
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