The Public Accounts Committee is not happy with the Government's
progress in delivering more of its services via the Web. David
Bicknell reports
In its report, "Government on the Web", the Public Accounts
Committee levels the complaint that government departments seem to
be falling behind on targets set by the Cabinet Office's
Performance and Innovation Unit last Autumn.
Nearly nine months later, the Government appears to be putting
more effort into preparing excuses than making real progress.
One example of Government chicanery the Committee highlighted
was the fact that that when a citizen phones a department, it is
counted as an electronic transaction. In this way it contributes to
Government targets for 50% of transactions being carried out
electronically by 2005, and 100% by 2008.
The Cabinet Office's explanation is that these calls are not
just ordinary calls, but those where Web technology is used to
provide a response to a citizen. It is a subtle distinction, but
the Committee was unconvinced. "Including telephone calls carries
the risk that achievement of the government's targets may be
overstated", it reported.
Similarly, the Committee is concerned that progress in the
establishment of intranets to improve communications within and
between departments has been limited, with a consequent failure to
improve efficiency savings. According to the Cabinet Office, the
reason is down to having to change the culture of departments so
that electronic communications become the norm in the way they do
business.
The Cabinet Office has another answer to Committee complaints
that there is not yet an "established or robust methodology for
justifying the expenditure which departments and agencies invest in
Web-based technologies." It says it has commissioned a study to
determine what such a methodology should be.
Perhaps the strongest criticism of the Cabinet Office is the
Committee's suggestion that although it has the lead responsibility
for promoting government on the Web, it did not know how many
departments and agencies have a Web site and whether they met good
practice guidance, such as being easily accessible by members of
the public.
As for IT skills, the Committee suggested that if more public
services are to be delivered electronically, civil servants need to
be more proficient in using Web-based technologies.
It added, "staff with experience in communicating via the Web
areÉ still relatively rare in central government". It called for
more training in IT and Internet skills at all levels of the civil
service.
With the ongoing debate over the Regulation of Investigatory
Powers Bill continuing to overshadow government e-commerce efforts,
the Committee's criticism of government Web efforts will step up
the pressure on the Government to do less justifying its
non-delivery, and make more progress.
It is not just the Cabinet Office which is under fire. The
Department of Social Security also comes in for criticism for
having made "slow progress" in providing services online, and is
regarded as being still between two to five years away from being
able to offer a universal service to citizens so that they could
submit all their benefit forms online. The Committee found that DSS
IT systems were one or two generations older than is required for
Internet purposes.
Overall, the Committee's report suggests that the Government has
a long way to go if it is going to meet its targets, which in
themselves are deliberately under-ambitious.
Under fire - The PAC's criticisms
- Are telephone calls really "electronic transactions"?
- Why has Intranet development fallen off?
- Why is there no methodology to justify expenditure on Web
technologies?
- Does the Cabinet Office know how many government departments
have Web sites?
- Department of Social Security IT systems are too old for the
Web