John Hudson

Two pieces by Michael Cross in today’s Guardian Online. One - Your number’s up - argues the draft bill shows signs the government has learnt from some of the recent IT disasters. However, he points out that:

last week it [the government] received two reminders that things are still going wrong.

Andrew Smith, secretary of state for work and pensions, told parliament that “problems with the new computer and telephony systems” were to blame for failings in the processing of child maintenance payments at the Child Support Agency. He said the department was retaining “around 10-15%” of its monthly fee to IT firm EDS for running the service. Meanwhile, the House of Commons public accounts committee reported that the Inland Revenue’s introduction of tax credits was “nothing short of disastrous” because of IT failings.

(See Hansard for Smith’s written reply to questions about the CSA and the PAC’s report on tax credits for more on the IR’s problems.)

In his other piece, Cross explores the pre-existing national identity numbers UK citizens possess - and some of the issues that have arisen during their implementation.

A verysmall piece in today’s Guardian - dubbed Millions get online access to Whitehall - carries a report on the ‘low-key announcement’ that direct.gov.uk is now available on DTV via Sky Digital and Telewest cable - with NTL cable to follow soon.

The announcement certainly was low key - there was nothing about it on the Office of the e-Envoy site yesterday. However, the Guardian report suggests a publicity drive is on its way soon with plans for ‘TV advertising to promote the brand and its distinctive new yellow and orange website’.

I remain to be convinced about DTV - whenever I’ve used interactive services via ONdigital/ITV digital/Freeview and NTL Cable they been clunky, painfully slow and very prone to freezing or crashing. I imagine the Sky Digital service is better - hence the priority its been given in roll-out of direct.gov.uk - so it looks like I’m going to have to pop round to someone else’s house to give the new service a trial run to see if my view is justified!

Have just come across a report from the European Commission (via digitalgov) which suggests Re-organisation of public administrations boosts the quality of online services (full text of report available here.)

The report argues: “Public administrations that combine the use of information and communication technologies to deliver new services with the substantial reorganisation of the way they work get higher appreciation ratings from business and citizens… Better results are due to the fact that reorganisation reduces costs, increases productivity, and provides flexibility and simpler organisational structures”.

The research is based around 30 case studies of best practice; one comes from the UK: the UCAS service for university admissions.

The ID cards debate is really kicking off now following publication of a draft bill and the launch of a pilot to test the technology underpinning the cards this week. (The Guardian has an extended piece detailing the proposals.)

Interestingly, in a 20-minute long interview/Q&A session on the BBC Breakfast News yesterday, Blunkett emphasised the technological dimension of the proposals, arguing Labour didn’t bring proposals forward when they first came to power largely because ‘biometrics’ and the potential for a ‘clean database’ were absent. In short, technological changes have opened up new policy possibilities - though he also emphasised the changed political climate that exists post-9/11 as being a key factor too.

Also of interest is the MORI poll - widely reported last week - which suggests that some 80% of people are behind the scheme. Much of the support seems to be fuelled by the belief that the cards could help tackle illegal immigration and terrorism. Blunkett, though, emphasised the public services dimension too (though the notion of an ‘entitlement card’ seems to have gone now) and talked of linking the new ID cards system to the NHS’ new electronic patient records and rolling the two projects out conterminously. Moreover, he talked of the potential for saving hundreds of millions of pounds from eliminating fradulent use of the NHS by non-UK citizens.

Meanwhile, the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee are continuing their investigation of the feasibility of an ID card scheme: evidence from industry proponents and those who are more sceptical is now on-line.

IBM/Economist Intelligence Unit have published the 2004 update of their e-readiness rankings. The UK has moved up to second - behind Denmark - overtaking the USA and Sweden.

The BBCi site also carries a story about the index.