Election pressure on Whitehall CIOs

In an election year, with much of Tony Blair's reform agenda hugely dependent on new computer systems, the focus on government IT will be greater than ever. It is unlikely that any election will have been fought with such a dependence on technology for delivering a political manifesto. The Prime Minister's apparent faith in IT is welcome.

But it only serves to raise the pressure on the people charged with making that IT work.

Everybody with an interest in public sector technology will be delighted that the first meeting of the new Whitehall chief information officers (CIO) group, chaired by head of egovernment Ian Watmore, has finally taken place.

It is astonishing to think that not until 2005 has there been a formal forum for the senior departmental IT leaders to work together and share their experiences. Can you imagine a major corporation whose divisional CIOs have never met? Watmore's initiative is certainly a case of better late than never.

But he will have plenty of challenges to overcome - not least that he must rely on his powers of persuasion to improve co-ordination of IT projects, and other people's budgets to make anything happen.

Much of what he is trying to achieve will be long-term, such as establishing IT as a more recognised and rewarding career in the civil service.

Comparing experiences of suppliers across different projects, sharing IT services to avoid duplication of effort, and common approaches for areas such as security and identity, will all be benefits the CIO group can achieve to prove its worth in the short term too.

But the greatest challenge will be balancing the needs of improving Whitehall IT with the political priorities of a government that has to deliver on key election issues such as health, education, joined-up justice, and many others which all depend on technology.

The measure of success for Watmore and his CIO colleagues will be to ensure the debates focus on policy, not on whether the IT is up to the job.