Information and Communication Technology Tools

for Better Government

 Andrew Miller MP                         15^th December 1998  

Introduction

Delivery Mechanisms

  The vast majority of a citizens’ dealings with Government are unstructured and have no bearing on life events.  This is well described in a recent Fabian pamphlet entitled “Information Age Government: Delivering the Blair Revolution”.  In an ideal structure there is little need for the citizen to distinguish between different departments or indeed between Local and Central Government.  The most advanced example of that is probably ‘Centrelink’ in Australia (Appendix 4).  ‘CAFExpress’ in Newcastle represents at least a beginning in the United Kingdom, although there is uncertainty as to whether their chosen path will be sufficiently flexible as world-wide standards emerge.  Knowsley Council has also opened a number of innovative ‘one stop shops’ as part of its business re-engineering that could evolve into a single Government interface.  The diagram below illustrates a simplified way in which links should take place between citizens and Government:

This is not a new concept, one only has to think of the ‘999’ service to realise that the principle has been in place since 1937.  One well known telephone number contacts three services, run by two Government departments.  Just as in that case, it is critically important here that technology remains a tool and does not become the driving force behind the service.  Put another way, in terms of the Better Government project, there are no technological barriers in delivering the structure set out above, whether it be applied to the individual citizen as customer or to business. The scale of the re-engineering of the back office to make such philosophy work efficiently is enormous.  It is however relatively easy, technically, to develop the front office using the Australian model.  But, the human resource implications have the potential of creating significant political problems.  These stem from the fact that it would be necessary to transfer and re-train personnel from large back office operations, such as the DLA in Blackpool, to the front office in the high street. 

Main projects being undertaken by CITU

The 25% target

  Services in the regions  In integrating with services provided locally, it is important that we ensure that money is used efficiently. As the section on funding in the attached paper (Appendix 2, p20) from Peter Fell, Director IRISI (North West), indicates, the current system of distribution of funds does have a propensity to maintain the status quo, which may result in the duplication of infrastructure and equipment at the front end.  Do we really want our high streets to have a row of different kiosks and offices providing differing services?  The net effect of his argument is to create a structure such as that below:  

The rules governing funding streams can restrict lateral links between services provided, thus creating barriers.  It is therefore essential that we adjust funding criteria to address this risk. There are a wide variety of experimental systems developing across the country.   Knowsley, Newcastle and some London Boroughs are worthy of further detailed study.   Whilst I would strongly argue that these ‘bottom up’ projects should be encouraged, some ground rules need to be established.  I recommend that: 

                    All projects should be written up and available on a common web site.

                    All new applications for public funding fit the broad pattern of objectives of the Better Government project. The absence of such basic rules will cause the risk of duplication of effort (including between Local and Central Government). I also recommend the establishment of a liaison committee between the Local Government Association and Central Government, charged with the job of communicating best practice. 

  A Champion for IT There is a consistent message coming from within both the public and private sectors.  Namely, the need to have a champion for IT at the heart of Government.  Parallels have been drawn with Al Gore in the USA and Jeff Kennett, Premier of Victoria in Australia.  The post announced recently by Peter Mandelson of a ‘digital envoy’ could clearly go a long way towards that but a strong political voice is also needed. I have long argued the case for a Minister for IT and an IT Commission, based upon the Swedish model. The private sector view on this is set out in Jo Wright's paper. This is outside my terms of reference but I believe it is something that the Government needs to come back to in the near future. There is no other realistic way of funding many of the projects other than sophisticated public/private partnerships.  Therefore, a strongly constituted link with the industry suppliers and potential suppliers is critical.  That message came through from all quarters as the level of front loading of contracts will be very large.  Suppliers are not unreasonably concerned that the traditional short-term approach in the United Kingdom will mitigate against investment unless confidence is maintained.  A key part of that is confidence in the determination of Government to drive through the re-engineering described earlier. The following assumes that the Better Government committee chaired by Jack Cunningham has under it a “within Government” committee comprising of senior civil servants.  I recommend that the responsibility for Information and Communication Technology co-ordination should be placed below that.  That in turn should have a number of sub groups (with terms of reference for projects that include a sunset clause).  In the first instance they will have a heavy agenda and should fall into the following categories: 

1.    integrated electronic service delivery

2.    the Government intranet

3.    an industry consultative committee. The Industry Committee should also have a political input: a)     to help the spread of best practice from the private sector; b)    to maintain the confidence of the private sector in the Government's determination to drive the project forward.      

Standards

Recommendations

 As a result of my study I recommend that:

        CITU be given responsibility for setting standards for all ICT’s within Government departments.        CITU be given a leading role in providing advice and guidance to departments on relevant issues.

        Stand-alone projects undertaken by Government departments should only be approved in exceptional cases.

        The 25% target should be extended to maintain momentum and interest.

        The aims of the 25% target should be more precisely defined.        ‘Smart cards’ and ‘intelligent forms’ projects should be expanded.

        All departments should be comprehensively briefed on the ‘Smart cards’ and ‘intelligent forms’ projects as they have exte

nsive use elsewhere.

        Rules governing ICT funding streams be adjusted to prevent restriction of lateral links between service providers.

        All ICT projects be documented and available on a common web site.

        All new applications for public funding fit the broad pattern of objectives within the Better Government project.

        A liaison committee between the Local Government Association and Central Government is established to communicate best practice.

        The Information and Communication Technology function under the Better Government Committee should have a political input.

        Careful consideration is given to the work of the National Disability Council and the Information Society disAbilities Challenge when addressing the needs of the disabled user.

        A Minister be given lead responsibility for promoting ICT both within and outside Government and a study be made of the merits of the Swedish style commission.

Appendix 1

The Role of CITU

Appendix 2

IRISI (North West)

an initiative of   ELECTRONIC GOVERMMENT AND THE NORTH WEST OF ENGLAND A SUBMISSION TO ANDREW MILLER MP BY PETER FELL, DIRECTOR IRISI (NORTH WEST) INTRODUCTION IRISI (North West) is a partnership initiative of the North West Regional Chamber and brings together public and private sector agencies. IRISI's role is to spread awareness of the Information Society, promote best practice, develop new initiatives, co-ordinate existing activity and develop the Regional Information Society Strategy. IRISI has over the past 12 months run numerous conferences, lectures and seminars, developed exciting new regional projects and co-ordinated the regional response on the Year 2000 and IT aspects of the Euro. This short paper is a critique of the way in which E Government is being developed. It is based on the broad experience within the region, a region that is committed to not only being a part of the information age but also leading it. Successful Implementation of Electronic Governance It is arguable that there are 6 necessary elements in the development of E Government: 

        Political will

        Infrastructure (networks etc)

        Applications

        Access (through terminals and public access points)

        Training and skills

        Funding  Each is dealt with in turn below. Political Will To proceed at a local level in relation to E governance there has to be a political will. This is needed to make the necessary capital and revenue investment and to change the organisational culture which is required to deliver successfully E Government. Ownership of the initiative needs to be at the highest level in order to ensure that: 

        Departmental budgets are "bent" to support E Government

        A coherent and consistent approach is introduced across all departments eg libraries, schools, social services, external promotions

        User friendly, not technologically glitzy, public interfaces and navigation systems are used         The information is relevant, accessible and kept up to date

        Staff culture changes are introduced. 24 hours back up and support services need to be introduced. Staff need to embrace the benefits of the new form of delivery. They all need to understand, from a clients view point, the impact of the new form of delivery

        Training programmes are introduced for all staff on not only the technology implicators of E Government but also the human elements Infrastructure The infrastructure to deliver E Government in terms of public and private networks is often well advanced in UK regions. It is necessary, however, to ensure that existing investment is utilised effectively. For example in the case of the North West of England major investment has been/is being made through the public purse on: 

        National Grid for Learning

        Network North West

        Rose College network

        NHS net

        Genisis

        Gemisis 2000

        North West Tech Web

        Knowsley Broad Band Some of these "networks" were conceived for single usage eg educational, training, health etc. They will all have spare capacity to carry public information. This should be encouraged. In addition major investment has been made in the Region by the major telecoms providers including BT, CWC, Telewest and Norweb Communications. All need to be engaged. Applications The E Government agenda's success will depend on the quality and range of applications that utilise the networks in place. The applications need to:

        Be easy to navigate

        Be well organised

        Be user friendly, with good use of the English language

        Follow an understandable and logical hierarchy

        Be interactive There is real merit in grouping applications together so that they are accessible through a single "portal", albeit with separate opening pages for example: Terminals based in GP surgeries might have GP services as the "home page" but will have an easy navigational mechanism to link to social services, housing, DSS and other services. Common standards on issues such as the use of symbols should be encouraged so that transport information, for example, is easy to identify anywhere in the UK or even better anywhere in the EU. The Link Project in Lancashire is working with colleagues in other European Projects on this issue. Access To be effective, E Government must be accessible through: 

        Terminals in the home (PCs/Digital TV)

        Public access terminals (schools, libraries, social service offices, Business Links etc)         Kiosks (located in areas used by the public on a regular basis) These should all ideally, be multi functional. There is a real danger that agencies keen to embrace the information age will develop kiosks which have single functions leg education, tourism, health etc). This will confuse the public. It is also not a sensible use of public funds. It is not technologically difficult for kiosks, computer suites, library terminals etc to be utilised by many applications. This should be encouraged. Training and Skills E Government success will depend on the utilisation of local skills. In order to ensure that sufficient skills are accessible a coherent approach to training is needed to ensure that skill shortages are not a block on the development off Government. 

        Engaging school students by making the E Government applications accessible from school terminals

        Engaging SMEs through TEC/BL funded courses and information

        Ensuring adequate training for public sector staff in the implications of electronic delivery.Funding Projects which can be classified as being a part of the information society are funded currently through as a variety of sources including:- 

        DTI

        DfEE - NGFL, UFI

        HEFC

        FEFC

        Objective 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5b

        Adapt

        SME

        Lottery

        Mainstream college, local government etc Funding lines, understandably, have different outputs which may include jobs created, GDP improved, SMEs supported, training places created etc. Outputs seldomly include networking, inter-connectivity, content quality, accessibility, user friendliness, disability sensitive etc. The silo approach to funding has to be reduced. We should not support projects/initiatives which are: 

        Planned in isolation

        Lacking networking capability

        Not based on agreed protocols

        Usage specific The positive features of the funding regimes is that considerable investment has already been made. This will form the backbone of the delivery for E Government. Suggestion For The Way Forward In order to help deliver E Government at a regional level the following actions are recommended:     

i.        That the most senior policy makers are encouraged to understand the capability of the available technology through high level seminar events, etc.  

ii.        That a series of best practice events are arranged at a senior level to maximise political buy in. 

iii.        That "league tables" are introduced to monitor movement towards the Government's target figure. 

iv.        That open technological systems and platforms are encouraged.  

v.        That the RDA, GONW and the Structural Funds direct funding so that:

        no projects which are not networked be supported

        projects be expected to utilise existing networks leg Net North West, Tech Web, NHS Net etc) rather than create new networks

        projects demonstrate that the applications are user friendly, disability sensitive etc and are inter connected

        no project which is single usage be supported

        all terminals, computer suites, public access points, kiosk etc be multi usage

        projects include elements for maintenance, refresh, upgraded and support. Equipment that fails to operate or is out of date will discredit the drive towards the information age. 

vi.        That a hearts and minds campaign be launched utilising all available means particularly involving schools, commonly groups and libraries.

vii.        That a sensible approach be adopted to the private sector so that the networks, terminals etc be utilised for private sector information and sales if this is in the public good.

viii.        That common standards, icons and design be adopted wherever possible to minimise pubic confusion. 

ix.        That a long term view be considered at the start of the process so that sensible foundations are built. 

Peter Fell,DirectorIRISI (North West) Wednesday, 02 December 1998

Appendix 3

“Yes, IT Minister”

Jo Wright^[1][1][1]

 Context When a Member of Parliament asked me to commit my impassioned ramblings to paper, I was happy to oblige.  These are personal views, based on 15 years in the IT industry, the last 15 months spent running a several hundred million pound Government and Public Sector business across 4 countries. Should this paper stimulate any valuable discussions within Government, I would be delighted to clarify any points that arise.  Background It is widely understood that Governments across the world are facing a range of common challenges, and the UK Government is no exception.



        Demographic changes are driving social welfare costs ever upwards, with a diminishing population to fund these demands.  

        Citizens expectations are rocketing too, driven in part by expectations of the ‘norm’ set by private sector practices. 

        Global pressures and the changing nature of employment from manufacturing to services lead is creating a fickle climate, where jobs can be switched across international borders with alarming ease.   

        Governments are having to find new ways to respond: they are having to consider new ways of improving their own productivity so that scarce resource is spent on the outcome itself, not on the processes for delivering the outcome.  

        A political and administrative culture that has historically been able to consider itself in a monopolistic position is for the first time facing real competition, not from its political opposition, but from its international ‘allies’. 



The country that is able to fund the best quality services for its population and for its employers will be the country that wins the new 'gentlemen's arms race’.... the battle for jobs, investment, skills, that will ultimately decide the which of our younger generation get a good education, decent job prospects, with quality Health and Social service to rely on in times of need. A Brief Look at Comparable Private Sector Challenges and Responses The symptoms that these Governments now face may be relatively new in the public sector, but they have been faced in all areas of the private sector.  These pages have no intention of portraying a ‘Private... right... Public ... wrong’ mentality (far from it), but the fact that much of the Private sector found itself in turmoil a little earlier than the bulk of the Public Sector offers opportunities for learning that it would be foolish to ignore. There are lessons that can be learned from how the private sector responded, and conclusions can be drawn from the actions of the organisations that thrived, merely survived, or ultimately died. When the chips are down, what do the private sector do? They ensure that what they do and don’t do is relevant to their current mission.  This mission is also thoroughly re-evaluated.They fundamentally reassess the way in which they conduct business with existing processes being re-examined for their relevance to current priorities.  In years gone by, a response was to mechanise, to automate.... we came to know this as the Industrial revolution.  Companies that failed to do so in adequate time simply vanished.More recently, the reassessment of business norms has become known as ‘Re-engineering’, and in successful instances it starts with the redesign of business processes, and often ends up with the implementation of Information Technology solutions to support the new processes.  Indeed, IT became so vital to the survival of the organisation, that the old ‘Data Processing Manager’ (identifiable because he was necessarily obsequious to his boss, the Finance Director, and because no one else ever volunteered to talk to him or his department) was reborn in the 1980s as the ‘Information Technology Director’ who enjoys a full (in some cases even leading) seat on the board, and is identified by his substantial pay check, combined with leading ideas of how his company’s strategy could evolve faster and better than their competitors. What Would an Equivalent Government Response Look Like? Some governments in the world have already responded to the opportunity and threat that the quality exploitation of IT opens up.  In some instances they are the smaller countries and economies who realise that they have a unique chance to leap frog the historical world leading nations... Jamaica and Denmark are 2 interesting examples of countries that have grasped the opportunity with both hands and are determinedly setting about transforming themselves into world class locations to attract global investments.  If their plans come to fruition they will have a population that is both committed and educated to be able to participate in the high technology world, they will have a national infrastructure that will be the envy of the world, and in come case they will have a climate to match!  In each case, their commitment to this new vision of where they could stand in the world pecking order is being driven by a Minister for IT.   At the other end of the scale, the USA are also driving the high tech agenda and potential hard, with the active lead being taken by no less than the Vice President.  The leadership focus ensures that regulation, infrastructure and skills are all encouraged to ensure that the USA remains high on the list of desirable places for global investment decision makers to promote and favour.  The American leaders’ public commitment to this cause cannot be doubted, and their statements concerning the drive for quality electronic delivery of government services are backed up by many examples of real, usable and used implementations of Electronic Government Services Delivery. Relative UK Position In contrast, the main lead we in the UK have to follow is a much quoted and broadcast snippet from the Prime Ministers 1997 Party Conference speech declaring an aim that 25% of Government Services should be electronically enabled within 5 years.  Over 12 months on, we (public and private sector observers) are still debating what that might mean in implementation terms, and speculating over how ... indeed if...it could be achieved.  As recently as October 1998 a sizeable conference centre in London was filled to debate not the practical realities of the Governments use of IT, but the meaning of and inhibitors to “25% and Beyond”. We in the UK seem to be stuck in a quagmire: huge sums of public money are spent on the components of Information Technology.. computers, networks, software, major projects and so on.  But for some reason this expenditure too often fails to deliver against expectations and we are left with a catalogue of embarrassing high profile failures.   How can we get out of the treacle? The appointment of a full Cabinet member Minister for IT with full supporting department would make a significant contribution to the future of UK plc.  How? 1.     Leadership

It would be hard to overstate the benefit that the visible and active leadership would bring. Today, IT is too often treated as a necessary evil, as a cost centre, and seen as a technical discipline which appears not  to merit attention at Cabinet level. This attitude pervades all areas of politics and administration. Whilst there are identifiable individuals who not only care, but who have a meaningful contribution to make, this is not seen as a route to career fame and glory (in either House or the Civil Service), and all to often their voices are lost in the mist.  They have no ideological or managerial leader behind whom they can rally, and all too often their personal interest has no outlet of value to the community.  Endless examples in the private sector have led experts to conclude that without strong leadership from the top, the use of IT to radically alter the vibrancy of an institution is too often doomed to failure.  IT is only the enabler of change: the change itself remains culturally challenging and needs powerful leadership to drive it through inevitable difficulties.  Failure to provide this leadership has all too often lead to failed IT projects... expensive... embarrassing... and worse, delivering no value.  Dare one suggest that this sums up an alarming number of UK Public sector IT initiatives. 2.     The Role Most Agencies and Departments now have an IT leader (in name if not in skill).  A substantial percentage of their time and resources will be spent on the same things.  A central competence centre offers significant potential in terms of economies of scale.



Furthermore, a central group should be able to define, communicate and enforce an architecture or strategy to ensure maximum flexibility in the future, minimum duplication of effort, and maximum effectiveness of IT expenditure within Agencies and Departments.  Design and ownership of standards is a regular and widely identified benefit of any central IT group in a big, diverse, and fluid organisation. 3.   Career Structure It is not unusual to come across elected politicians and Civil Servants who have built a speciality in a particular area as a platform for their career. We could all name people who we associate with a deep and genuine understanding of Tax policy, Health strategies, Educational models, Economic policies, Social Welfare, Pension reform and so on.



Can anyone identify a senior Information Technology specialist in politics or the Civil Service? Has anyone met someone who believes this is a platform on which they could build a successful career which could take them to the top of their chosen profession?



Furthermore, we find that many of the senior roles in the Central IT Unit (as close as we come to having a centre of IT competence in the UK government) are filled by two year secondees from industry, secondees from abroad, or top calibre high flying civil servants who come in knowing little about IT, learn about the issues, and then move on after two years to a more senior (non IT related) role elsewhere in Government.

This is hardly a basis on which Government will either recruit or retain the best skills on a long term basis.
However, if there was a full department dedicated to the exploitation of IT in the Public Sector, it would be possible to attract and provide a real career structure for IT professionals.  After all, it is seen as an attractive industry in which to operate in the private sector..why not the public sector?

Furthermore, the attitude towards IT evident in the senior echelons of the Public Sector rubs off on the Private Sector too.  Ambitious individuals would rather be involved in the Banking or Retail sectors where IT is recognised as having a vital contribution to play and where decisions are made on the basis of business contribution, not cost.  Where is the IT company that has elected not to operate in Banking or Retail sectors.... sadly there are several who have 'deselected' the Public Sector from their investment or activity priorities.  Inevitably, this means that by and large young entrants into the IT industry would rather not be involved in the Public Sector.  The fact that there are some outstanding individuals who are involved in the Public Sector is largely down to the addictive nature of the complexities and potential, fuelled by the idealist belief that something can be done. 4.  Continuity and Knowledge

IT is a strange animal: on the one hand it is the fastest moving industry there is, with average product life in some areas being as short as 3 months.   On the other hand, it enables and is at the heart of complex long term change.  As with anything complex, real expertise is both rare and acquired over a period  of time: 2 year secondments do not provide either sufficient time to learn or to opportunity to deliver benefit.  The agenda is one of strategic change: it belongs at the heart of government in just the same way as it has nestled itself into the heart of successful business.  A cost based attitude to IT is inappropriate: it would naive and irresponsible to suggest that  a firm financial eye shouldn’t be kept on IT expenditure, but, looking once more for learning  opportunities from the private sector, there are more companies who have saved their way to oblivion than have invested their way to it. Issues          There is no doubt that it won’t be easy to get a positive Public Sector IT ball rolling.  The manner in which it starts will be crucial. The first leader appointed to such a ministry needs to be an outstanding individual, and widely recognised as such.  They need to be given the full support of cabinet colleagues and to be seen as having the respect of the Prime Minister’s inner sanctum.  Such a commitment would rub off on the whole of the Public Sector: fellow ministers would start to take the potential of IT in their department seriously; Permanent Secretaries would start to invest personal attention in the quality of the Information Technology within their departments.  The Millennium Bug challenge has for the first time made people realise how all pervasive the use of technology is in society: this is a momentum that can be built on, becoming not just pervasive, but of genuine value in all its many manifestations and implementations.



         Individuals with world class IT leadership skills attract a high price precisely because of their enormous potential to engineer and deliver real change.   The Government has shown itself capable of overcoming such barriers and needs to recognise the requirement to exercise such discretion and creativity here.



         The job description of a  Minister For IT might reasonably be extended to ensure that not only did the UK Public Sector make the most effective use of IT, and that the national infrastructure was able to play its role in attracting global investment, but also in leading the education of businesses active in the UK to ensure they are as competitive as possible.  Clearly this overlaps with part of the current remit of the DTI: it would be important to clarify roles. Conclusion The potential for better use of IT in the Public Sector is immense: but without leadership the topic will continue to be driven by inappropriate procurement procedures, and with the only high profile aspect being the increasingly frequent and inevitable bad press that major IT projects attract when they falter.  The catalogue of disappointing projects is to the detriment of everyone: private and public sector alike. 
During a time of national skills shortage the Private Sector is increasingly prioritising its resources into areas where they know they have a ‘quality’ and involved customer committed to seeing successful outcomes, not just satisfactory procurement processes.    If ‘UK plc’ is to remain a world class force, this trend must be reversed, and demonstrable commitment to change from the highest levels of UK Government is an urgent requirement.  Leaving the topic to a junior minister (regardless of their calibre) is simply not adequate. 



Comparisons have been made between IT and Science/Research, the argument being that neither is fit for a dedicated ministry/department.  The basis for comparison is fundamentally flawed: at a generic level ‘science’ and ‘research’ are disciplines which very quickly become specific to the cause to which they are applied.  In contrast, although some aspects of IT are necessarily specific, increasingly it is generic skill base that is being applied to a wide range of business problems: it has been identified as a key element in the Governments ‘Better Government’ or ‘Modernising Government’ agenda and should be treated as such. 



When IT takes its place at the heart of government thinking and planning, it will become the great enabler of change that successful private sector organisations have come to depend on, rather than the £6b+ irritant that it appears to be today. Appointment of a Minister for IT is the first step on that road.   

Appendix 4

Centrelink, Australia

Centrelink, officially launched on September 24, 1997, is bringing a better level of service to people who obtain information or assistance from a range of Commonwealth Government programs.

The creation of Centrelink is part