By John Thornton | 1 December 2011
The government’s implementation plan shows that ministers are serious about getting to grips with the problems associated with public sector ICT projects
The Government ICT Strategy published last March is an easy to read and concise document (Smart Thinking?, May 2011). By contrast, the ICT Strategic Implementation Plan, published in October, is harder to read because it contains lots of milestones, metrics and risk assessments.
It is a working document, designed to ensure the strategy is carried out properly. Rightly, it avoids the temptation and probable pressures from some quarters to go for a lightweight document with lots of pictures. It provides the mechanism for moving from ‘what’ the government wants to achieve to ‘how’ it will happen.
I doubt whether anybody will read every word of the plan, apart from its authors. But if you are involved in any aspect of government ICT, information management or efficiency and reform, you will want to find the parts that are relevant to you and your organisation. The government is clearly serious about getting to grips with the long-standing problems associated with government ICT projects, as demonstrated by the governance arrangements.
At the highest level, progress against the plan will be monitored by the public expenditure (efficiency and reform) Cabinet subcommittee. It will be jointly chaired by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander. This will provide ministerial oversight and has the power to intervene to ensure there is sufficient progress and that ‘the outcomes are fit for purpose’.
In plain language, this means that it provides the star chamber process where ministers will be quizzed on their departments’ achievements, or lack of them. As a lever of power, there are very few things that put greater pressure on ministers and permanent secretaries than the thought of appearing before this sort of Cabinet subcommittee to explain the shortcomings of their departments and agencies and their failure to achieve the plans agreed.
Joe Harley, as the government chief information officer and chair of the CIO Delivery Board, is accountable for the overall success of the strategy. Named individuals will then be held accountable for each of the parts.
What will it achieve? The aim is to move to more modern, joined-up, digitally based public services. It is about improving business outcomes, reducing risks, providing better value for money and using ICT as a main enabler of change and efficiency improvement. Unfortunately, these types of words and phrases have been so over-used in the past that they now sound like clichés. But the reality is that government needs to make these changes even more now as we adapt to what looks like a very long period of austerity.
Will it save money? The plan ‘anticipates’ savings for central government of over £460m per annum by 2014/15, equating to 7% on an ‘assumed’ spend of £6.5bn. It is assumed because, as the plan acknowledges, there is currently no definitive or audited record of central government spend on ICT for 2009/10 to provide an authoritative base line.
This compares with savings of £3.2bn (20%) for central government and the wider public sector expected as part of the 2009 Operational Efficiency Review. These were estimated by the Treasury to be ‘achievable without compromising the quality of frontline services’ on an assumed spend of £16bn.
At its heart, the ICT plan is trying to provide a centrally driven process to deliver a wide portfolio of much smaller, locally driven activities, balancing ‘command and control’ with greater local autonomy and an agile development process.
Will it work? I hope so. We all need the benefits it should deliver.
John Thornton is a director of e-ssential Resources, and an independent adviser and writer on business transformation, financial management and innovation
The government’s implementation plan shows that ministers are serious about getting to grips with the problems associated with public sector ICT projects
The Government ICT Strategy published last March is an easy to read and concise document (Smart Thinking?, May 2011). By contrast, the ICT Strategic Implementation Plan, published in October, is harder to read because it contains lots of milestones, metrics and risk assessments. It is a working document, designed to ensure the strategy is carried out properly. Rightly, it avoids the temptation and probable pressures from some quarters to go for a lightweight document with lots of pictures. It provides the mechanism for moving from ‘what’ the government wants to achieve to ‘how’ it will happen.
I doubt whether anybody will read every word of the plan, apart from its authors. But if you are involved in any aspect of government ICT, information management or efficiency and reform, you will want to find the parts that are relevant to you and your organisation. The government is clearly serious about getting to grips with the long-standing problems associated with government ICT projects, as demonstrated by the governance arrangements.
At the highest level, progress against the plan will be monitored by the public expenditure (efficiency and reform) Cabinet subcommittee. It will be jointly chaired by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander. This will provide ministerial oversight and has the power to intervene to ensure there is sufficient progress and that ‘the outcomes are fit for purpose’.
In plain language, this means that it provides the star chamber process where ministers will be quizzed on their departments’ achievements, or lack of them. As a lever of power, there are very few things that put greater pressure on ministers and permanent secretaries than the thought of appearing before this sort of Cabinet subcommittee to explain the shortcomings of their departments and agencies and their failure to achieve the plans agreed.
Joe Harley, as the government chief information officer and chair of the CIO Delivery Board, is accountable for the overall success of the strategy. Named individuals will then be held accountable for each of the parts.
What will it achieve? The aim is to move to more modern, joined-up, digitally based public services. It is about improving business outcomes, reducing risks, providing better value for money and using ICT as a main enabler of change and efficiency improvement. Unfortunately, these types of words and phrases have been so over-used in the past that they now sound like clichés. But the reality is that government needs to make these changes even more now as we adapt to what looks like a very long period of austerity.
Will it save money? The plan ‘anticipates’ savings for central government of over £460m per annum by 2014/15, equating to 7% on an ‘assumed’ spend of £6.5bn. It is assumed because, as the plan acknowledges, there is currently no definitive or audited record of central government spend on ICT for 2009/10 to provide an authoritative base line.
This compares with savings of £3.2bn (20%) for central government and the wider public sector expected as part of the 2009 Operational Efficiency Review. These were estimated by the Treasury to be ‘achievable without compromising the quality of frontline services’ on an assumed spend of £16bn.
At its heart, the ICT plan is trying to provide a centrally driven process to deliver a wide portfolio of much smaller, locally driven activities, balancing ‘command and control’ with greater local autonomy and an agile development process.
Will it work? I hope so. We all need the benefits it should deliver.
John Thornton is a director of e-ssential Resources, and an independent adviser and writer on business transformation, financial management and innovation
