ntouk.com - Jerry Fishenden's technology policy blog

The state of the economy has changed everything. Current discussions about information technology (IT) in the public sector have become focused on the need for short-term tactical cuts, rather than its longer-term strategic role. And this time around it is no longer a theoretical debate about paper-based "operational efficiencies", but about real, hard cuts requiring well-evidenced decisions and practical execution. The Prime Minster has committed to " -5 per cent. reductions in real terms in the cost of running Government in each of the next three years."

This commitment will be easy to monitor on the government's balance sheets. It's a better way of proving demonstrable savings for the taxpayer than the operational efficiency programme, which has come into question in Parliament due to weaknesses in the way that such theoretical savings are measured. Indeed, there are serious doubts about whether the claimed 26.5bn GBP of Gershon IT savings exist anywhere other than on paper.

But from an IT perspective, this is not just about better management and use of technology. I also believe that there needs to be a rediscovery and renewal of the public service ethos and a reinvigoration and re-enthusiasm around what it means to be a civil servant. Most civil servants that I know and meet in the course of my work are frustrated that the current system does not let them fulfil either their own latent potential or that of the public services they work within.

"Walking through treacle" is one oft-repeated description, along with a feeling of fin-de-siecle depression about where to go next after the era of centralised monolithic thinking has washed up on the beach like some vast, sadly stranded whale. The system needs renewal and rejuvenation to enable everyone to be more successful and more satisfied with their role in delivering public services focused on the citizen. And the citizen needs to experience a public sector working both efficiently and effectively, but also feeling good about itself in a way that just doesn't seem true right now.

There is less consensus however about the way in which the current push for cuts can be most effectively applied, particularly when it comes to IT. The underlying problem in the current discussions is the poor perception of IT within Whitehall. It is associated with a bloating budget, running at anywhere up to 21bn GBP a year, and a track record, at least in the media, of repeated failure rather than shining success.

We all know of course that exceptions do exist, examples of public sector IT that works well and of good, impactful public sector CIOs working at Board level as an integrated and valued part of the business. But alas, so few exceptions it seems that IT cannot defend its corner effectively and argue a persuasive case about its role in the delivery of better quality public services at lower cost.

None of this is helped by the fact that Whitehall still seems to largely lack accounting systems able to monitor and track where the money goes, and is therefore unable to prove where value for money may be being achieved. IT expenditure of anywhere between 13bn GBP and 21bn GBP is a very large spread indeed, complicated by an apparent lack of consistency in the way in which expenditure is coded and accounted for. Some departments include capital depreciation, for example, in their returns and others do not. All too many Parliamentary Questions about IT projects and their costs end up with a response along the lines of "The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost." Which brings into question how well projects and programmes are being managed if such baseline financial information is not routinely tracked, monitored and reported on. This is basic accounting, basic project management 101 stuff after all.

One reason for the current cynicism about government IT is that that people have been hearing promises about the latent potential of IT for a long time. Take a look at documents such as "Modernising Government" (PDF) from the early Blair era and you find them full of visionary aspirations for better public services delivered through smart use of modern technology. Yet there is little evidence of substantive progress these many years later, despite 100bn+ GBP worth of government expenditure on IT. And I do think "expenditure" is the right word rather than "investment": an investment should deliver a demonstrable return.

Given the current state we're in, whatever changes are brought into play around IT are going to need to happen regardless of who forms the next government. And making this happen is about more than IT alone. A more agile civil service is required that enables the right talent to move into the right positions more swiftly. The civil service needs to implement a talent bubble sort, enabling those with appropriate talents and skills to move rapidly into the right roles, avoiding many of the costly and time-consuming frustrations they experience today.

There's a pressing need too for a clear, inspirational vision and leadership around the role of IT in the public sector. But any such vision will have no substance if it exists solely as an abstract notion in the ether. It must be underpinned by an effective programme to deliver year on year progress, year on year practical improvements in our public services.

If there is one criticism of all those old early Blair vision documents it is that they never had a clear delivery vehicle and clear lines of responsibility and accountability for progress. So as we look around the public sector some 12 years on, we find that much of the original vision of the need to improve public services, for employees and citizens alike, remains as valid now as it did then. But equally there is little progress to report.

There is a strong case to be made about the need for a fundamental, twenty-first century re-organisation of the structure of Whitehall, to re-orientate it around citizen services and outcomes rather than producer-side organisational structures. But any administration needing to deliver change effectively and efficiently is likely to focus pragmatically on working within the existing model. Any machinery of government changes would tie up an administration on internally-facing issues for years unless well executed. Such changes will ultimately be needed. But their timing and precise definition are issues that require much wider consideration and a broad cross-party consensus.

However, even within the current dysfunctional Whitehall model there remains an opportunity to focus on citizen-focused policy outcomes that span departments. One idea doing the rounds is for a cabinet-level Minister for IT and a Treasury-backed CIO able to ensure IT is better integrated and better delivered than in the past. Their focus would be on establishing binding IT frameworks on a cross-Whitehall basis, framed within the context of policy objectives and outcomes rather than a technically-driven agenda.

Any such model would need to be empowered with new cross-Whitehall accountability and responsibility mechanisms. These could in part be brought about through changes being considered to the governance, accountability and responsibility of senior civil servants at departmental Board level.

The real challenge will be to achieve the right kind of balance between agreed policies, such as those around open standards, whilst leaving more power and autonomy locally. And to do so without seeing a return to the inefficiencies of the last 30+ years in Whitehall of both overly-centralised IT models and chaotic local free-for-alls. The last thing anyone wants is a pointless swing of the pendulum from one failed historical model to another.

Now is an opportune time for a fundamental rethink about public sector IT and the way in which it informs, engages with and supports public policy. But it needs to be done in the context of wider public service renewal and the current economic climate, finding a way for the civil service to be re-enthused and re-engaged as key players in the renaissance of the UK's public services. And all of this needs to help restore citizen trust by placing them and their needs at the centre of public service re-design, not those of Whitehall.

I see clear potential for an exciting and innovative few years ahead. I hope I don't find myself in another 12 years time looking back and wondering where things went wrong yet again. At the risk of over-stating the case, I do think the future of the UK at least in part depends on finding ways to make IT work more effectively as an integral part of public service renewal. I am frequently exposed to, and hence very well aware of, what other countries are already doing, and planning, in their use of IT to help redesign and modernise their societies and associated public services.

The UK does not lack ambition, talent or indeed top level political vision about what needs to be done. But this time around the difference is that we need to ensure we work effectively to find a way of making it succeed on the ground. A renaissance in the role and competence and reputation of Whitehall IT is a vital and integral part of making such success a reality.

This time around, we all need to find ways of getting it right.

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