Former government CIO Ian Watmore has told MPs he favours
publishing Gateway reviews - although he recognises that government
policy is to keep them confidential.
The statement by Watmore, who leaves the civil service this
month to become
chief executive of the Football Association, supports Computer
Weekly's
long-running campaign to persuade the government, and
particularly the Office of Government Commerce, which runs the
Gateway review scheme, to publish review reports.
If published, the reviews would allow MPs and others to see
internal assessments on the progress - or lack of it - of large,
risky IT-based projects such as the ID cards scheme, the £12.7bn
NHS IT programme, initiatives to modernise systems at HM Revenue
& Customs and IT work to support the Olympics.
The OGC has only ever published
two early Gateway reviews on the ID cards scheme - and then
only after it spent years fighting rulings under the Freedom of
Information Act.
Watmore spoke in favour of publishing the reviews at the
hearing of the Public Accounts Committee last month into why
big projects keep failing and mistakes are repeated.
He said there had been a furore when government published
capability reviews - which give a green, amber or red light to
the managerial abilities of entire departments. But the fuss over
their publication died down quickly and capability reviews are now
part of the furniture, he said.
Watmore told public accounts committee MP Richard Bacon: "I am
with you in that I would prefer Gateway reviews to be published
because of the experience we had with capability reviews. We had
the same debate [as with Gateway reviews] and we published
them."
The danger with publishing Gateway reviews is that "people will
not talk about what their real issues are and things will be
suppressed from the Gateway reviewers and you will end up with two
reviews, one that is publishable and one that is the private
one".
He added: "Current government policy is to keep them
confidential but personally, on balance, I would publish for the
reasons you have said."
So impressed is Watmore with the Gateway review system that he
may adopt the scheme in the Football Association.
Computer Weekly put it to the Office of Government Commerce that
Ian Watmore, as a former government CIO, supports the publication
of review reports. Its spokesman was unmoved.
He replied: "The Office of Government Commerce is committed to
transparency and public accountability, which is evident in the
emphasis placed on publishing the results of a wide range of OGC
activities... Gateway reviews are conducted on a confidential basis
for senior responsible owners [SROs]. This confidentiality allows
interviewees to speak frankly and openly to reviewers about any
issues facing the project or programme.
"Because OGC regards SROs as accountable for the project or
programme, and for any remedial action required by the review,
there is no requirement for OGC Gateway reports to go further,
although it is accepted best practice for SROs to circulate to the
appropriate people within their project and department.
"In addition, lessons learnt from Gateway reviews are beginning
to be published on the OGC website. The recent decision from the
Information Tribunal on disclosure of Gateway reports on the
identity cards programme made it clear that neither they, nor the
information commissioner, believe that all Gateway reviews should
be disclosed."
Watmore tells MPs why so many Government projects fail
>>
Lessons learned from Gateway reviews >>