Barnsley Named UK's First Tech Town as Government Pushes AI Into Public Services

UK names first AI town, declines to comment on jobs impact

South Yorkshire becomes ground zero for nationwide experiment with £500K seed funding AI-pocalypse Barnsley, a town in South Yorkshire, England, best known for coal mining and glassmaking, is being thrust into the limelight as the country's first "Tech Town" - shoehorning AI into everything from local businesses to public services. According to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), Barnsley will blaze a trail for the rest of the UK to follow - all in the name of advancing the British government's reliance on AI to improve productivity and make the UK great again (MUKGA). Local residents could see improved public services, better support in local schools, faster access to NHS care and new opportunities for jobs and skills, DSIT says. Needless to say, the word "could" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: "If we are going to get AI to work for Britain, we need Britons and British public services that can work with AI. That is why Barnsley's ambitions are crucial, because if we can show that AI helps young people learn, supports local businesses to be more productive, and improves public services, then we can show what's possible for the whole country." The scheme is to include free AI and digital training for the town's residents, through Barnsley College and the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology. It will also involve testing educational technology tools in schools and Barnsley College, to gather evidence of the impact on pupils' learning and if it can reduce teacher workloads. The existing Seam Digital Campus near the town center is being expanded to offer small businesses support when adopting new technology and scaling up. Barnsley Council will receive an initial £500k ($683k) in seed funding as part of the program. Companies that have signed up to the scheme include Microsoft and Cisco, each - we're told - with a particular focus on AI skills in adult education and SME support. Confirmation of the companies involved in testing AI tools in health services is expected some time in the not-too-distant future. However, while the government talks up new opportunities for jobs, Microsoft slashed 15,000 staff by the middle of last year, citing AI as one of the reasons. And the company's AI tools are so successful that just 3.3 percent of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 users have opted to upgrade to a paid version of Copilot Chat. The UK government itself found no discernible gain in productivity from a three-month trial of Microsoft's M365 Copilot, as reported last year. Cisco also ditched 7 percent of its global workforce - about 6,000 employees - as part of a restructure that saw a shift towards AI. Meanwhile, a study released last year claimed that a fifth of jobs could disappear at businesses that implement AI. The Register asked DSIT what assurances it could give that rolling out AI across services in Barnsley would not lead to a loss of jobs rather than new opportunities, but it declined to directly answer that question. Georgina O'Toole, chief analyst at TechMarketView, commented: "The scope covers GP triage tools, school AI assistants, and business support. But what's missing is more telling. There's mention of digital infrastructure - connectivity and cybersecurity - but nothing about data foundations. No discussion of data quality, integration, or governance frameworks. No talk of an ethics framework for AI use in healthcare or education. Those foundations are crucial. Without them, you're building on shaky ground." Barnsley Council Leader Sir Stephen Houghton CBE said in a statement: "One of the key missions in our Inclusive Economic Growth Strategy is for Barnsley to become the UK's leading digital town." "This is one of the most important investments in Barnsley in our history and will help secure our long-term economic future." The town no longer mines coal - the last sites were closed in the early 1990s. The fossil fuel might have helped to power the datacenters the UK government wants to pepper the country with - not that coal would help with net zero emissions. AI server farms famously consume a lot of energy and at present the Brit government wants to build datacenters where power exists. That might not aid the facilities under construction in London. Last week, DSIT unveiled a new AI Growth Zone in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, centered around a datacenter campus in Airdrie owned by operator DataVita. The government promised this would bring more than 3,400 jobs over the course of the coming years, although the company itself admitted the majority of these would be in constructing the site rather than running it afterwards. TechMarketView's O'Toole said of the Barnsley project: "An 18-month timeline to transform healthcare, education, and business support risks spreading resources too thin to deliver real impact in any of them. It also suggests a technology overlay rather than the process transformation required for genuine change. "There's also the trust problem. Public sector organizations have been burned by technology pilots before, investing substantial time, having their day-to-day disrupted, but seeing minimal benefit. Without that trust, and without evidence that this time will be different, 'we don't have the bandwidth' often means 'we don't believe the ROI is worth the effort.' "The real draw here is probably pro bono support from US tech giants in a budget-constrained local government environment. The problem is that it is unlikely to solve the fundamental capacity problems within the public sector organizations themselves. As an example, implementing AI triage in a GP practice requires mapping existing workflows, integrating with patient management systems, staff training, and sustained monitoring. In other words, a substantial - and resource-heavy - ask from organizations that are already overstretched. If NHS Trusts, schools, and GP practices can't commit that bandwidth, much of the 'transformation' will stall regardless of the tech. "If Barnsley fails to deliver measurable improvements, it won't just prevent national rollout; it could make other regions more cynical about investing at all. The absence of clear success metrics compounds the risk. For any town where residents are crying out for their council to get back to basics - to rid the roads of potholes or have the bins collected on time - the question should be whether heralding Barnsley as a 'Tech Town' is a distraction rather than a solution."

Barnsley to become AI 'trailblazer' as UK's first Tech Town

Barnsley has been named the UK's first "Tech Town" by the government, as it seeks to create a "trailblazing" hub for how artificial intelligence (AI) can improve everyday life. The title means AI will be rolled out across public services such as in schools, colleges, businesses and the NHS. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the town would act as a "national blueprint" for how technology could make life "easier, fairer and more prosperous in Barnsley". She said: "If we can show that AI helps young people learn, supports local businesses to be more productive, and improves public services, then we can show what's possible for the whole country." Firms backing the plans include Microsoft, Cisco and Adobe, which have pledged to support local people's access to jobs of the future. Barnsley Council said there would be free AI and digital training made available to workers, through Barnsley College and the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology. Free courses will also be offered to residents seeking to expand their skills or considering a career change. There will be a partnership with Barnsley Hospital to test AI tools that offer quicker check-ins, faster triage and smoother outpatient care. AI and edtech tools will be tested in schools and at Barnsley College to improve evidence of the impact of technology on pupil outcomes, inclusion and reducing teacher workload. Barnsley Council leader Sir Stephen Houghton said: "One of the key missions in our Inclusive Economic Growth Strategy is for Barnsley to become the UK's leading digital town. "Welcoming the secretary of state to Barnsley to announce that we are the UK's first Tech Town underlines our ambition and commitment to innovation which will benefit our residents, businesses and partners. "This is one of the most important investments in Barnsley in our history and will help secure our long-term economic future." South Yorkshire's Mayor Oliver Coppard said: "Thanks in no small part to work being led by Steve Houghton and Barnsley Council, we're building a bigger, better economy in South Yorkshire, creating jobs and opportunities in the industries that will define the next generation and beyond. "That's why the government have recognised Barnsley as the UK's first Tech Town. "Because we have already built a thriving digital ecosystem, from the Seam Digital Campus and the growing cluster of digital and creative businesses, to the cutting edge training at Barnsley College and the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology. "Barnsley has all the foundations of a modern, thriving tech economy." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North

Barnsley rebranded UK's first 'tech town' as US giants join AI push

Minister announces Microsoft, Cisco and Adobe to help apply AI to local schools, hospitals, GPs and businesses In 2002 Barnsley toyed with a redesign as a Tuscan hill village as it sought out a brighter post-industrial future. In 2021 it adopted the airily vague slogan "the place of possibilities". Now it is trying a different image: Britain's first "tech town". The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, has anointed the South Yorkshire community as a trailblazer for "how AI can improve everyday life" in the UK. In the latest move in Labour's drive to inject AI into Britain's bloodstream, the government has announced three US tech companies - Microsoft, Google, Cisco and Adobe - have agreed to help as the council pushes to apply AI to local schools, hospitals, GPs and businesses in Barnsley, an area of South Yorkshire which has struggled with unemployment and deprivation since the coal pits closed. The town and its 250,000 people have been chosen because they have already adopted AI faster than many places, said Sir Stephen Houghton, the Labour leader of Barnsley metropolitan borough council. His authority has been using AI assistants for the last couple of years in adult social care and children's services, and its bin lorries have been enabled with tech to scan roads for potholes. The parcel company Evri, which has one of its largest distribution hubs in the town, has been trialling robot dogs for deliveries. But local opposition leaders have warned rebranding Barnsley as a tech town "might seem a bit of a leap" and highlighted local anxiety about whether AI is a force for good. The "tech town" status means residents will get free AI and digital training, businesses will be supported to adopt AI, the hospital will test AI tools for check-ins, triage and outpatient care and AI will be tested in schools and at Barnsley College, all in an effort to improve pupils' results and teachers' workloads. "The economic basis of Barnsley was destroyed 30 years ago," Houghton said. "This is the biggest opportunity we have had since then. The future of the economy is going to be in technology and for Barnsley to be at the centre of that is an incredible opportunity." But one area of uncertainty is the role of the tech companies. Houghton said: "The council won't be paying them. Whether the government is, we have to wait and see." Microsoft already has a relationship with Barnsley College and, along with Google and Cisco, is understood to be working on a pro bono basis. "If we are going to get AI to work for Britain, we need Britons and British public services that can work with AI," Kendall said. "If we can show that AI helps young people learn, supports local businesses to be more productive, and improves public services, then we can show what's possible for the whole country. What we learn here will shape how we roll out AI across the UK." Ministers have faced criticism over their handling of big technology companies. Last week the government launched a national AI training programme to upskill 10 million citizens, but many of the online courses turned out to be bespoke training for customers of particular companies such as Google, others cost as much as £525 to complete and some simply promoted the merits of particular company's approaches to AI such as one explaining Microsoft's "responsible AI approach". A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said hundreds of courses on the AI Skills Hub are free and where payment is required it is clearly advertised. "All courses are reviewed against a common set of criteria to ensure they are relevant, high quality, and delivered by eligible organisations," they said. Ministers have also been challenged for holding meetings with tech bosses at the rate of more than once each working day. The government insists engagement is vital to create growth and transform services. "It's not about giving tech companies access to data they shouldn't be having," Houghton said. "It's a secure programme and we are not leaving ourselves open. But this stuff is not going away. We have to make sure we are smart enough to protect people while taking advantage of the positive stuff it brings." Hannah Kitching, the leader of the council's Liberal Democrat opposition, said investment in the town was welcome but "there is a lot of anxiety among people about the use of AI and whether it is a force for good. We know it could be but there are darker sides as well." "[Barnsley] is still really connected to its mining past," she said. "Younger people see the jobs and opportunities around the tech town idea but older generations perhaps don't. There is a job to be done to get people onboard." Residents "want the council to get the basics right", she said. Roads were "absolutely crumbling" and in bad weather bins did not get collected, she added.