Technology and its successful implementation will be crucial if the government is to meet its investment commitments despite constraints on public spending, Treasury chief secretary Stephen Timms has told Computing.
In an exclusive interview, the Cabinet minister says IT has a critical role to play in helping the Chancellor meet his ‘golden rule’ of only borrowing to invest over the course of an economic cycle.
With Whitehall budgets expected to be flat or even reduced over the next spending period from 2008-11, the government will need to do more with less to fulfil commitments on health, education and transport funding.
The money will come from improving administrative efficiency, says Timms. ‘Public spending will be very tightly constrained in the next few years to conform with the macroeconomic policy framework,’ he said.
‘This underlines the importance of IT-enabled transformation in enabling us to continue the improvements we have seen in public services while maintaining the stability that is the bedrock of our economic success.’
Timms says the timescales provided by the spending review period allow departments sufficient time to deliver efficiency plans.
But Jim Norton, senior policy adviser at the Institute of Directors, says expecting business change schemes to provide short-term financial benefits is perilous.
‘Business change may save a lot of money in the long term, but to see it as a short-term cost-cutting exercise is fatal,’ he said.
‘There is money to be saved, but to do it will require investments first, both in technology and in people.’
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