Mission possible: the job of improving public services

Moran: there is much to celebrate in government IT

The Transformational Government agenda is about using technology to achieve the best outcomes for our communities, particularly those that most need public services.

The debate is of great interest to politicians. We all want greater value for money and efficiency, and to free up resources for the better frontline delivery of streamlined services to citizens. In the modern world they expect 24/7 services from the private sector, when and where they want them.

The public sector should deliver no less, but all we hear in some sections of the media is a litany of failures.

In reality there is much to celebrate, and lessons to learn from the successes as well as the failures.

The recent Public Accounts Committee report highlighted three of the main lessons:

* IT skills, including the skills to be a responsible and intelligent customer, are scarce in the public sector, and the skills base has to be rebuilt.

* Continuity at the top is essential at both civil service and ministerial level.

* Success correlates with incremental change, failure correlates with centralised big bang.

However, delivering joined-up citizen-centric services involves challenges that do not apply to the private sector. A victim of domestic violence may have lost their home and be living in fear, yet must contact eight or 10 agencies with different processes and varying levels of security, all asking for information that could be used by an abusive partner to track them down. At a simpler level, many of those citizens with whom the public sector has regular dealings are incapable of using a conventional screen and keyboard.

The good news is that there is already a wealth of skills available.

There is also much practical experience of what works and what does not, hence the programme of hearings that we are organising through Eurim, the all-party, government-industry information society group, to publicise good practice on:

* the means of delivering genuinely socially-inclusive services, given that parts of society are best reached by very different channels and that those in most need of support are least likely to be reached via the current generation of online services.

* the challenges of organising delivery partnerships that really do cross the barriers between the public, private and voluntary/community sectors, as opposed to dominant players trying to coerce others into adopting their pattern of working.

* the democratisation of delivery, ensuring that consultations really do involve those most affected, the recipients and those who interact directly with them. But we also need to ensure that subsequent performance monitoring is based on their experience of what is actually delivered and their changing priorities.

If you have experience of addressing these issues, email me at moranm@parliament.uk.

Margaret Moran is MP for Luton South and chairwoman of Eurim