London, 27 February 2026 – NTT DATA, a global leader in AI, digital business and technology services, has today announced the Semi-Finalists in the Civil Service AI & Data Challenge. After sending in their ideas for how government could make better use of AI and data technologies, eight civil servants have been invited to take those ideas forwards in dedicated project teams.
The eight ideas were chosen from more than 250 submitted to the Challenge: an innovation programme run by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the Cabinet Office, specialist publishing house Global Government Forum, and NTT DATA.
The programme team will now build interdisciplinary, cross-departmental teams of civil servants around the eight ideas, providing them with advice and support as they prepare for the next stage of the Challenge: on 24-25 March, the teams will attend a hackathon then pitch their ideas directly to the Judging Panel – which includes the CDIOs of four major departments, an MOD Director General, the government’s Chief Data Officer and its Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, and NTT DATA’s Head of Public Sector.
Four will then be selected to move on to the Final in May, where the judges will award one a prize worth £50,000 of digital project development. The goal, though, is to catalyse a number of digital reforms and service improvements – accelerating progress on the government’s ambition to improve public services and save resources through the use of digital, data and AI technologies.
Minister for Data and Modern Digital Government, Ian Murray said:
“This Challenge shows how civil servants will put AI and data to work improving public services. Last year we set out our approach to bring AI into the frontline of public services: test and learn, then scale what works. Today’s shortlist shows that in action.
“The semi finalists’ ideas show how AI and data can help government work smarter – cutting paperwork, reducing delays and freeing staff to focus on people – to make services more innovative and efficient, and deliver the value for money that taxpayers expect.”
The eight Semi-Finalists are as follows:
Casework compliance assistant
AI guidance and support with data analysis, verification and processing for DWP benefits teams
Marlon Woodley, CFCD Verification Assurance Officer, DWP
Codified digital solution assurance
Tackling fragmentation, complexity and duplication in assurance processes with a cross-government rules engine
Kelcey Swain, Data Foundations for AI Lead, Cabinet Office
Fraudulent document detection
AI verification service to identify documentation that has been tampered with or falsified
Eric Edward, Trainee Tax Specialist, HMRC
Offshore wind adaptation to protect wildlife
Using cameras and AI to safeguard protected birds approaching wind turbine arrays
Sabrina Schalz, NSIP Ecologist, MHCLG
Real-time weather event impact intelligence
Using data from government and open sources to track flooding and other extreme weather
Robert Cowling, Senior Hydrometeorologist, Environment Agency
AI for capability discovery
Using AI to scale advanced analysis of complex open data for early capability insights
Mark Brushett, Defence Intelligence, MOD
FOI request assistant
Multi-agent AI to aid triage, costing, data-gathering, and response drafting for Freedom of Information requests
Matthew Pickering, Stakeholder Engagement Lead, DESNZ
Virtual personas for policy testing
Creation of AI personalities to explore the views and reactions of various demographics
George Griffiths, Data Scientist, FCDO; and Amish Sarpotdar, Economic Adviser, DESNZ
Aimee Smith, the government’s Chief Data Officer and a Champion of the programme, said:
“Congratulations to everyone behind these ideas – we had more nominations than ever this year, and nearly 60 high-quality submissions. You have all achieved something remarkable. And if your proposal was not selected by the judges, that does not mean the journey ends here. Working with civil service data and AI leaders, and with our partners NTT DATA and Global Government Forum, we will continue to explore how every strong idea can realise its potential.
“The Civil Service AI & Data Challenge has shown both the breadth and depth of opportunities to apply AI and data in government, and the remarkable level of support for action across the Civil Service. I am very much looking forward to what comes next, starting with the Semi Finals on 24 and 25 March.”
David Filmer, Managing Director for UK&I Public Sector at NTT DATA, said:
“It was incredibly difficult to pick the eight most promising ideas at the judges’ meeting. The quality of submissions was really excellent, demonstrating civil servants’ extraordinary inventiveness, expertise and commitment. They also revealed civil servants’ enthusiasm and ambition about the potential of AI technologies: the emergence of large language models has opened up huge opportunities to improve public services, save taxpayers’ money and strengthen public servants’ tools across a wide variety of roles, activities and agendas.
“I’d like to thank the judges, our network of senior data leaders – who’ve played a key role in collecting and developing these ideas – and, above all, the hundreds of civil servants who’ve sent in ideas and volunteered to join a team. I’m excited to see what the teams come up with at the Semi-Finals – and, in time, to support civil servants as they carry some of these brilliant ideas through into implementation.”
The 252 ideas, submitted last autumn following an appeal from the programme ‘Champions’ – who include the Permanent Secretaries of the Cabinet Office and DSIT – were first reviewed by the project team and a network of ‘Sponsors’, comprising senior data leaders from across government. Workshops were then held by NTT DATA and 13 civil service organisations, enabling those who’d put forward the most promising ideas to seek the advice and support of digital and data professionals and relevant policy experts. This process generated 57 submissions to the Judging Panel – the majority of them both based on the use of AI technologies and backed by key people within relevant departments.
The eight teams now have less than a month until the Semi-Finals, when they will face the Judging Panel in person at Global Government Forum’s Innovation event. For more information on the Civil Service AI & Data Challenge, please visit https://datachallenge.uk/
Pictured at the Judging Panel meeting are (back row, left to right) Kalbir Sohi, Chief AI Officer, Government Digital Service; Bill Wilson, Executive Head of AI, NTT DATA UK&I; David Filmer, UK&I Head of Public Sector, NTT DATA; and (front row) Aimee Smith, Government Chief Data Officer; Daljit Rehal CB, CDIO, HMRC; Leanne Almond, Head of Central Government, NTT DATA.