The home secretary was clearly struggling in the ID
Cards Bill debate last week. His attempt to show that the
government has a strong track record in running large-scale IT
projects backfired badly.
The examples chosen by Clarke smacked of desperation. Chip and
Pin and a project at the Department of Work and Pensions that
promises to save more than £1bn over the next five years, together
with research that shows a high level of customer satisfaction at
the Passport Office, were hardly convincing. Chip and Pin is not
even a government project.
As Phil Reed makes clear on this page, there are some success
stories in public sector IT. There are innovative IT projects that
make a real difference. There is also a determined effort to
improve public sector IT performance.
The government CIO and his CIO Council, together with other
public sector IT leaders, are trying to spread best practice to
ensure that projects that we all rely on deliver significant
benefits.
That is why it is such a pity that the home secretary did not
have a better grasp of the technology issues surrounding the ID
card project and simply tried to bluster when confronted with the
arguments and his department's IT track record.
Successful IT projects require clear goals and simple processes.
IT experts from academia and industry have repeatedly drawn
attention to the complexity and risks of the government's ID card
programme. Last week the London School of Economics published
details of a simpler, alternative model that could meet the
government's objectives at a fraction of the cost. The government
should listen.
Mind the data quality
If the government's controversial ID card plan becomes reality,
it will depend entirely on the quality of the data held on every
citizen of the UK.
The complexities of maintaining accurate and up-to-date
information are well known to major corporations with large numbers
of customers. Our case study on Prudential (page 28) clearly
illustrates the nature of the challenges and the depth of
commitment needed to meet them.
The task being taken on by the government is massive in
comparison to mainstream private sector projects, but ministers to
date have shown little comprehension of how high the hurdles
are.
This really is a case of mind the quality, don't just feel the
width.