UK: Government IT strategy

At the recent Government IT summit, Ian Watmore (Head of E-Government) outlined the strategy for Government over the next months with a clear desire not only to shift perception as to the failings of the current strategy, but also to deliver a "joined up" IT solution for Government as a whole.

Recent announcements from Government clearly indicate that Central Office is placing IT at the forefront of its agenda. Not only is the national ID cards scheme one of the key bills for the next term, but there is clearly a drive within government to address the IT issues which have dogged it in the past.

At the recent Government IT summit, Ian Watmore (Head of E-Government) outlined the strategy for Government over the next months with a clear desire not only to shift perception as to the failings of the current strategy, but also to deliver a "joined up" IT solution for Government as a whole.

January and April of this year saw the first meetings of the CIO Council, a body of all the CIO leaders within the key Government departments and other strategic bodies, formed by Watmore as part of the "joined up" strategy. The CIO Council has been set up to ensure that IT programmes are rolled out in a co-ordinated manner rather than to meet isolated independent agendas. The CIO Council intends to deliver its strategy report in November, outlining the strategy for IT going forward.

So what are the key issues that have been identified for the strategy?

Whilst not disclosing all of the areas under scrutiny, three areas in particular have been identified as areas for focus. These are as follows:

1. Service transformation;
2. Corporate services;
3. Services and authentication.

Service transformation is aimed at delivering a customer based capacity and capability - the aim being to put the customer, or you and I, at the centre of the Government strategy. The Government compares poorly against a number of other countries in IT delivery to the public. Canada, US and France for example are much further ahead in terms of IT delivery. Whilst claims may be made that a number of Government organisations are "e-enabled", the reality is that the solutions available to customers are somewhat limited and lag behind other jurisdictions in richness and depth of offering. The uptake on certain of the e-government initiatives (e.g. on-line tax returns) has been positive, but there is not enough depth or consistency of service.

Corporate services - or the Government back-office - is another area for focus. The Government is keen to ensure that the back-office services are delivered effectively and efficiently. Reviews undertaken on the back of the Gershon agenda (from the report by Sir Peter Gershon on public sector efficiency) indicate that significant modernisation and savings can be achieved. How these savings are to be achieved will be a key strand of the government strategy.

Finally, but equally as importantly, are the issues related to the security of services. One of the key concerns that the public has is around access to information and security of the services being delivered. If the Government is to be successful in delivering e-services it needs to provide sufficient security but without each individual having different Ids, log-ons and passwords for every different Government body. Reducing this complexity seems ideal, but the other extreme – one ID, one log-on can give rise to equally serious concerns.

It is a common perception that the government has a lamentable track record in the implementation of IT solutions, in particular a number high profile projects have run over time and over budget. There is clearly a drive to address not only the perception but some of the fundamental issues which have garnered to this reputation. Whilst it is not all bad news, the successes that there have been, have been overshadowed by the higher profile failures. Every major project going forward is going to attract more than just passing interest, not least from the NAO. NPfIT is already attracting attention both in terms of assessing the success of the delivery, but also to see if the procurement methods used by the NHS can work for other Government projects.

The November report is eagerly awaited and will need to deliver more than just platitudes in addressing problems – although the signs are that Mr Watmore will be looking to deliver substance over form. There will be difficult decisions to be made in terms of an overall strategy as there are clearly conflicting priorities between departments. There is also the issue of addressing huge existing legacy infrastructures.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

The original publication date for this article was 27/05/2005.