Report calls for Whitehall IT overhaul

Institute calls out for Office of IT

Economic policy think-tank the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) has called for the establishment of an Office of IT to provide a coherent e-government strategy and enable more responsive online public services.

The ASI’s Rewiring Democracy report compares the “appallingly low uptake” of e-government services in the UK to the situation in Estonia, where it says uptake is twice as high despite lower personal internet usage.

ASI director Eamonn Butler said that ministerial departments and quangos are failing to work together, preventing multiple online services from being provided at a single point.

“This is feasible to do but civil servants must be made aware [of the possibilities] and it must be made in their interests [to implement them],” Butler added.

Butler argued that a centralised Office of IT with a proper budget and led by a cabinet minister would be able to “crash ministers’ heads together” and provide crucial strategic leadership. “[Government] IT managers [would be] happier working in a situation that produces the goods rather than a bureaucratic system,” he added.

Mike Davis of analyst Butler Group said the report may add “power to the elbow” of Ian Watmore, who has responsibility for e-government. But he warned that implementing initiatives across government departments would be resisted by the civil service.