The public sector is enjoying rude health, forging ahead with innovative and large-scale projects. In the field of public health alone, £2.3bn has been allocated for IT work. And Whitehall continues to pursue its e-government agenda rigorously.
These and other IT initiatives create a strong demand for skills. According to the latest CW/SSL survey of job advertisements, public sector recruitment in the first quarter of this year was up 32% on Q4 of 2002. With cash and skills available, the public sector should be perfectly poised to embark on a truly trailblazing IT strategy.
Yet nagging doubts remain that age-old problems with public sector IT will persist. We address two of them - project failure and the inability of the sector to share its IT experience effectively.
Will IT stand or fall?
£12.5bn is being spent on IT over the next year in the public sector. Is that money well spent?
E-government: islands of expertise
Local authorities have until 2005 to put public services online - but are they creating pockets of excellence in the in a sea of mediocrity?
2005 target will be met
E-minister Douglas Alexander has denied the government is trapped in a "dotcom boom" timewarp after he promised MPs it would meet its target to have all public services online by 2005.
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This was first published in May 2003
