Local government is calmed by assurance that e-government will be
based on XML. Mike Simons reports
The Cabinet Office has given an unequivocal commitment to distance
itself from Microsoft proprietary protocols, in favour of open
standard XML as it drives towards e-government.
In a major step towards that goal the Government will launch UK
Online, its personal portal for citizens, in September, with four
"life event" services. More will be added monthly.
Cabinet Office IT Unit assistant director Anwar Choudhury made
the announcements at a conference last month organised by Socitm,
the public sector IT managers' body, and IT suppliers' group the
Computing Services and Software Association (CSSA).
The event was called to calm mounting fears among local
government IT professionals and supplier organisations that the
Government is rushing its consultation on interoperability
standards and that policy is too closely aligned with proprietary
products and standards. It was attended by 100 delegates from
software and service suppliers and public sector IT policy makers
from the Local Government Association and the Department of
Environment, Transport and the Regions, as well as the sponsoring
organisations.
Socitm's Jim Haslem said, "Public service providers must have a
clear framework of standards to enable effective joined-up working.
However, we must also ensure that local diversity of applications,
so important in driving competition and innovation in local
government IT, is maintained."
Choudhury said that under the Government Interoperability
Framework, government IT strategy will be "browser-led" with the
internationally-approved XML becoming the standard for data
exchange for joined up government.
UK GovTalk, the first government/industry co-operation of its
kind, will provide XML schemas for use across government, with an
open consultation process to ensure that interested parties can
review them. However, Choudhury insisted that once the consultation
was over these schemas would be mandatory.
Conference delegates - overwhelmingly suppliers - raised a
number of concerns, including lack of funds for IT projects, the
intransigence of central government departments and the state of
legacy systems.
The CSSA welcomed the framework, but echoed Socitm's fears and
insisted that the XML schemas should clearly conform to the
guidelines set down by the World-Wide Web Consortium. "Proprietary
extensions to XML should be avoided," said CSSA policy manager
Richard Sullivan.
The association also called for clear timeframes for
implementation and for further scrutiny of security issues.