By Richard Johnstone | 2 September 2013
The government could save as much as £70bn by 2020 if it were able to move all Whitehall services and transactions online, a report by the Policy Exchange think-tank has found.
The report called for government to be ‘remade for the digital age’, with all departments signing up to plans to eliminate the use of paper, improve efficiency through the use of technology and undertake better procurement.
All government services should be provided online unless face-to-face interaction is essential, the Smaller, Better, Faster, Stronger report stated.
Among the recommendations is a call for government to accept electronic proofs, such as proof of address required for some services, so that people can do things digitally even when they are asked to provide additional documents.
A greater focus should be given to digital skills in the civil service’s competency framework, and this should be backed up with better training and development. More should also be done to allow staff to be seconded to organisations that have put in place ‘cutting edge’ digital systems for services, to improve their skills.
Report author Chris Yiu warned that a lack of digital and data skills in Whitehall was the main barrier to the transition taking place.
Yiu, a former Treasury official, said senior civil servants will ‘make or break’ plans to improve the use of technology across government by the interest they take in technological change.
A survey of more than 2,000 public sector staff carried out for Policy Exchange found that only half (51%) agree that their organisation's leadership understands what tools and technology people need to do their jobs well.
Over a third (37%) felt that the technology available in their workplace is worse or much worse than the technology they have access to at home.
Yiu said that the public sector has historically been slower and less effective when it comes to taking advantage of technology, data and the internet.
However, catching up with the public’s use of technology could ‘generate billions of pounds worth of savings that could be used to cut the deficit or improve public services’, he added.
‘Government is changing, but the world around it is changing faster. With the internet all around us, it's reasonable to expect government to embrace digital. Our public leaders need to rise to the challenge, or risk a chasm between new and old tearing the whole system apart.’
