Author | Lightnews

Building a reusable data matching product

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · 23d

Matching companies across data sets is something we need to do very often in DBT, as do many other parts of government. Recently we released the Matchbox component as an open source shared piece of work. Read more digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/10/08/b...

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT)’s Data Scientists have built Matchbox, an open-source platform that allows them to deduplicate and link datasets in a way that is measurable, iterative and ...

From daunting to demystified: The evolution of Service Assessments in DBT

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Sep 24

Am rather enjoying the Liquid Glass look in iOS/WatchOS 26. Intrigued to see how it works on MacOS when I do that update...

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Sep 10

Service assessments are a really important way to ensure the quality and effectiveness of government's digital services. Our team in Department for Business and Trade share some of our learnings as we've evolved our approach in recent years digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/09/10/f...

What started as a formal requirement has evolved into a more collaborative, human, and forward-thinking process. It is about helping teams build better services, not just pass a test.

Strengthening European digital sovereignty with AI-powered tools

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Sep 3

Update: We are prioritising code on PyPi and aim to start re-opening by end of this month.

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Sep 3

I've got a meeting today to discuss progress on re-opening, will update after.

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Aug 15

We are working on it!

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jul 25

Our AI cubed team, part of the Data & AI services portfolio led by Sian Thomas MBE, are doing brilliant work. Read about their trip to visit DBT France and their participation in a hackathon to challenge misinformation digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/07/23/s...

How a DBT data team created an AI fact-checking tool during the Paris Hackathon.

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jul 18

Ha, older and wiser 😀

Using self-hosted Large Language Models (LLMs) securely in Government

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jul 17

Better late than never…?!

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jul 9

Read how we're self-hosting Large Language Models for secure in-house AI uses at Dept for Business & Trade digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/07/09/u...

Find out how and why DDaT has taken the important step of self-hosting LLMs within a secure, internal environment.

Being Hungry for the Human

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jun 25

“Appreciating human effort” - powerful insights in our AI age from @wearejustlooking.org wearejustlooking.org/letter41/ - connects with Vaughn Tan’s “meaningmaking” vaughntan.org/meaningmakin...

Noticing and appreciating efforts – is known by social scientists as the "effort heuristic." The quality or worth of an object is determined from the perceived amount of effort that went into producin...

wearejustlooking.org

Product Adoption - What it is, why it matters and how to improve it

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jun 24

Read about our fab Product Adoption team in Dept Business & Trade and why it matters digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/06/24/p...

How quality usage of our products and services can support the productive and agile state agenda.

Employer Branding | Tech Recruitment | IT Staffing

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jun 19

We've been happy using www.inspirepeople.net recently

Inspire People is a Tech Recruitment Agency providing boutique solutions for IT Staffing and Employer Branding for Tech Scale-ups and Public Bodies.

www.inspirepeople.net

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jun 17

Lovely thread, read all the answers!

Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · Jun 16

All this stuff about Britain is broken, all is terrible, there is no recourse, society is falling apart, if there was a war nobody would go, etc is beginning to irritate me.
There are doubtlessly considerable problems. But I worry that the catastrophizing could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jun 8

Did the same and totally agree.

Harnessing the power of AI in the public sector

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jun 5

Latest update on our AI work at DBT collaborating with partners across UK government. digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/06/04/h...

Building connections and sharing insights across the public sector at DBT's second AI conference.

Working on matrix working: looking back after 4 years

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jun 4

Yes! It’s a short-term measure while we are dealing with some security & privacy concerns. We are changing our approach to how we publish our code in the open to address some risks. Then they will return. Promise!

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · Jun 3

Thank you 🙏

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · May 28

We're marking 4 years of matrix working in Dept Bus & Trade Digital, Data & Technology so in this post I wanted to reflect on how we created our matrix working, and how we've had to keep learning and adjusting.

digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/05/27/w...

Learn how matrix working has helped DBT's Digital, Data and Technology directorate form supportive communities of profession and become more flexible to change.

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · May 24

I remember! The Dextrous Web and ORG together

Flying with Co-Pilot – How AI is helping neurodiverse staff thrive in DBT

Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · May 20

I remember reading a study claiming generous out of work benefits in Denmark contribute to far more economic dynamism.

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · May 19

In DBT we put particular effort into understanding how neurodiverse colleagues experienced our AI experiments. We found they reported greater benefit from using tools such as CoPilot, when compared to the wider test cohort. Read more about our experiences digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/05/19/f...

Find out how Co-Pilot is fostering inclusivity in DBT and helping neurodiverse colleagues to harness their strengths.

Delivering seamless migrations and a future-ready platform

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Jason Kitcat @jasonkitcat.bsky.social · May 12

When I learnt that GDS' hosting platform gov.uk PaaS was closing, I wasn't best pleased. We were the single biggest user of the platform & migration seemed daunting. However, I'm proud to say we focussed on the positives: digitaltrade.blog.gov.uk/2025/05/12/d...

Transition between Gov.UK PaaS and a next-generation internal platform – how we built a resilient, developer-focused foundation for modern digital services at DBT.