TheTransformational Government initiativegoes back to 2005, when Tony Blair was looking for a
strategy on how IT might transform public services. "The future of
public services has to use technology to give citizens choice," he
declared at the time.
The strategy is not just about reforming public services but
also sets ambitious plans for IT. It is expected to play a major
role in the government's plans to improve economic productivity and
social justice. The aim is to provide
"overall technology leadership" in driving back-office
efficiency and transforming the way public services are
provided.
Savings and services
Councils and government departments want to save money and to
improve service delivery by tailoring services to individuals and
keeping them simple.
Examples of how transformational government might work include
data sharing, so that citizens don't need to contact up to
eight different agencies with the same information, and using the
web to provide more services. Despite
skills shortages and a potential lack of competitiveness in the
UK IT industry, technology is increasingly expected to come to the
rescue of the initiative.
Glyn Evans, assistant to the chief executive on transformation
at Birmingham Council, believes transformational government is a
broad topic that can mean many things to IT professionals.
"Transformation means different things to different people," he
said. "Councils need to decide for themselves what they need to do.
Most of the technology is already there, but we've never got the
most out of it.
"IT is fundamental to transformation, but it's not enough. You
need to be much more radical, and change the people, processes and
organisational structure as well."
Evans added that transformation in local government is very
different to central government. "In central government, projects
are bigger in volume. In councils, the services being transformed
are more personalised."
Organisational challenge
It was telling that a
recent
Cabinet Office conference on the topic, held in conjunction
with IT trade association Intellect, focused more on changing
government than on adressing the IT challenges.
The strategy is about a culture change. The Cabinet Office's
director of transformational government, Alexis Cleveland, said it
was about "putting the customer at the heart of everything we do".
The idea is that councils and government departments will look at
what services customers want, and then use IT to provide them in a
way that's easy to access and use.
John Higgins, director general of Intellect, insisted that
communication between IT and government was improving.
"The industry often used to feel something wasn't right about a
project, but would go along with it anyway because the government
said that was what it wanted," he said.
"Communication between what and how has always been a challenge
but I think it's getting better, and eventually they'll overcome
these problems," he added. "I think it's right that the emphasis is
on the outcome, not the technology. It's reasonably well understood
how to get the best out of IT."
Skills factor
At an industry level, said Higgins, the global nature of the
industry meant it would always be able to cope with the increase in
demand, but warned, "The UK IT industry will not be able to play a
part in this unless it does address its skills issues. If the UK
industry wants to be attractive to global suppliers, it will have
to do more work."
Higgins said that more backing for sector skills councils like
e-skills UK was the best way
for the government to support the UK's future competitiveness.
"What we don't need is more initiatives," he said.
But even though the industry has its work cut out, the
transformational agenda should be a good opportunity for IT
professionals, said Higgins.
"They're the people right at the heart of making change a
reality," he said. "They should see it as a great opportunity. It
is a very exciting time for people who understand what technology
can do. They need to be letting their colleagues know what's
possible, and pushing themselves to be right at the front of the
changes."