A Conservative government would be more cautious over embarking
on big IT projects due to the much publicised
failings of the current government's IT projects.
The party will also attempt to bring IT project management
skills into government to reduce the need for consultants.
Charles Hendry, MP for Wealden and shadow minister for energy,
industry and postal affairs, says, "Politicians have probably been
scared off major IT projects. Programmes have been
massively over budget, and politicians and civil servants have
shown they are not good managers of IT projects.
If elected, the
Conservatives plan to cut down on the number of
consultants used by the government, according to shadow
chancellor George Osborne, and will increase the number of inhouse
IT experts. He says they want to cap spending on consultancy,
including IT consultants. In 2005-2006 the public sector spent
£2.8bn on consultancy, up by one-third on the 2003-2004 figure.
Hendry says consultancy skills are essential, but the government
should find people who are prepared to work for it directly. "The
challenge for us is how we bring the necessary expertise to
government, given there is also a wariness of the growing use of
consultants," says Hendry.
Malcolm Harbour, west midlands MEP, says the Conservative party
would not have been as ambitious as
Labour has with the
application of IT to government over the past 10 years. "We would
have been far more cautious about attempting large-scale IT
projects."
IT advances will be difficult because of the lack of public
trust in government following a catalogue of
data losses, according to Jeremy Hunt, shadow secretary of
state for culture, media and sport. "A huge stumbling block is
people's
trust in government's ability to manage information securely.
In that environment where there is no confidence in government it
is going to be very difficult to make advances."
He says the party would need to establish protocols for the
handling of personal information in an attempt to increase public
confidence.
Paul Morris, head of government affairs at Microsoft UK, warns
that government should not be put off incorporating IT into
politics.
"There has been a good attempt to use technology, but there have
obviously been challenges," he says. "We should not give up on it.
We are at a stage where there has been some criticism of some
technology projects. But if politics is to remain relevant,
technology has to be a part of that."