Government's internet project 'doomed to fail'

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Stuart Millar, technology correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday June 4 2001 16.57 BST

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.