The Guardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,500998,00.html
Government's internet project 'doomed to fail'
More internet news <http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews>
Stuart Millar, technology correspondent
Monday June 4, 2001
The Guardian

The promise of Tony Blair's campaign to drag government into the information
age will not be met, according to an influential lobbying group.

In a report to be published after the election, ministers will be warned
that the prime minister's promise to have all government services available
electronically by 2005 is doomed to failure.
A draft summary, which is likely to form the basis of the full report,
concludes that the target - the centre of the modernising government
programme - is being undermined because many in government do not appreciate
the complexity of the task.

The draft, which has been seen by the Guardian, has been prepared by
corporate members of the European Infomatics Markets group, known as Eurim,
a cross-party body of politicians, civil servants and hi-tech companies such
as BT and Oracle.

The findings will come as a blow to ministers because they represent the
insider view of the situation; the report is based on a series of
off-the-record discussions with senior civil servants and local government
representatives involved in the modernising government programme, the key
vehicle for putting Mr Blair's promise of "joined-up" government into
action.

The programme, launched in 1999, originally committed the government to a
deadline of 2008 for all government services - local as well as central - to
be available electronically, primarily via the internet but also by other
means such as integrated telephone call centres and digital television.

But in March last year, Mr Blair personally announced that the target would
be brought forward by three years, an indication of ministers' confidence
that the bid to "blur the boundaries" for the citizen between different
departments and agencies was well on track.
Earlier this month, the man charged with turning the promise into reality
repeated the 2005 target and insisted that the "e-government" process would
use new technology to revolutionise the relationship between citizens and
their representatives.

In a speech to a public sector IT conference, Andrew Pinder, the e-envoy,
said: "Getting the best out of new technology means that we must innovate -
not just automate. And that means innovation within government as well as
between government and citizen. We've got to walk the talk."
According to Eurim's integrated service delivery sub-group, however,
technology is being used more as a "sticking plaster" to existing systems,
rather than as a means of developing better ways to deliver government
services.

While ambitious targets have been set across local and national government,
the draft calls for these targets to be redefined to place greater emphasis
on the needs of individuals.

"Merely enabling citizens to access existing government systems is not
sufficient," it said. "The modernising government programme will be
effective only if there is a permanent improvement in the way in which the
public sector operates, with the use of technology as an important tool, not
an end in itself."

The draft also contains calls for a reworking of the the key component of
the electronic government strategy, the UK Online internet portal.
The site has been hailed by ministers as revolutionising the relationship
between citizens and their elected representatives, allowing online access
to information and services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The site divides the areas of activity into six "life episodes" - Going
away, Dealing with crime, Having a baby, Moving home, Learning to drive,
Death and bereavement - offering information and access to services on each.

But Eurim's draft says this approach may not always be appropriate and calls
for a "less prescriptive system" because the relationship between citizens
and government is constantly evolving. The provision of information is not
enough, it concludes; "Online transactions between the citizen and
government are also needed but are much harder to achieve."
It also claims that the programme is in danger of foundering because the
government has failed to copy the private sector in adapting to the needs of
a new breed of well informed, sophisticated - and therefore more demanding -
consumers.

In a stark warning of the high price the government may pay for failing to
learn this lesson, the draft continues: "Government is uniquely vulnerable
to the views of the citizen. A government which loses the acquiescence of
the citizen-consumer risks losing its legitimacy. Ultimately, it may find
itself circumvented - as illustrated by the fuel crisis at the beginning of
the year."

Another crucial factor in the programme's problems may also be the attitude
of some civil servants charged with putting it into action.
"While many public servants recognise the need to change there are many who
do not," the report warned, pointing out that industry has learned the hard
way that unless staff support change from the outset, the process is doomed
to failure.

Anne Cave Penney, the sub-group's chairwoman and a senior executive with
Europe's biggest software company, SAP, said: "There is a lot of good and
innovative work being done out there, but too often it is isolated and goes
unnoticed. We have to identify the gaps so we can extend the best practice
across government."

The Cabinet Office insisted yesterday that the 2005 deadline would be met.
"We are confidently working towards targets and looking forward to seeing
report," a spokeswoman said.

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