Thought for the day:
Openness will improve public IT success
- Posted:
- 16:44 23 Sep 2004
Richard Allan of the Liberal Democrats explains why they
support publication of Gateway Reviews
As the political parties set out their stalls in the
next few weeks, it is apparent that IT is of increasing importance
to all of them.
The headline issues will remain the major public services such as
health, education and tackling crime, but underpinning these will
be commitments to improve performance and increase efficiency that
depend on the use of new technology.
If any party is to deliver on its promises, it must get the IT
right. The current Labour government has firmly pinned its colours
to the IT mast with high-profile projects such as the national
programme for IT in the NHS.
Questions are now rightly being asked about whether or not these
are likely to succeed.
Some changes have been made that should increase the likelihood of
successful delivery of technology projects in the public sector. In
particular, the development of the Gateway Review process is a
significant advance in subjecting all projects to independent
review.
However, we have already seen instances of projects, such as the
new tax credits system for the Inland Revenue, being given the all
clear by Gateway Review and then developing problems when
implemented.
If we are to scrutinise such projects properly, we need to be able
to look at the reports compiled during the Gateway Review process
and see how decisions were made in response to their
recommendations.
Yet the government has so far refused to publish the Gateway Review
reports. The Liberal Democrats support the call by Computer Weekly
for publication and we have been campaigning on this issue in
Parliament. As well as allowing us to look at what happened when
things go wrong, access to the reviews would help us in examining
proposals for new systems at an early stage.
For example, we know that assessments have been made of the
technical feasibility of a national ID card system. Parliament can
have a better debate about ID cards if this information is in the
public domain, rather than depending on general assurances from
government that it can produce a working system on time and to
budget.
As well as being a major purchaser of technology in its own right,
the government has a responsibility to oversee the development of
this important sector of the UK economy.
This area has received far less attention than it deserves from the
current administration. Part of the problem lies in the fact that
responsibility is split across so many government
departments.
The Treasury sets the financial rules within which contractors have
to work. The Department for Trade & Industry oversees
communications and intellectual property and engages in
international negotiations that affect offshore outsourcing. The
Department for Education and Skills decides on funding arrangements
for courses that are needed by those entering the IT
profession.
The Liberal Democrats have developed policies in all these areas
that we believe would boost the technology sector in the UK. We
believe that a greater degree of awareness of the importance of new
technology is needed across government. Not only is the IT sector
an important earner in itself, it is clear from the US and other
countries that it is the key to improvements in productivity across
the economy as a whole.
The government needs to place technology at the heart of its
economic as well as its public services agenda.
There is no single solution to resolve all the challenges faced by
the IT sector, but we believe that our mix of policies on
government investment and an entrepreneurial economy are a pretty
good recipe for success.
Richard Allan is the spokesman for IT for the
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats' policies on IT can be found on the party
website: www.libdems.org.uk
