Whitehall skills under fire

Expert predicts long wait for successful government IT projects

It will take another 30 years before Whitehall can successfully deliver major IT projects unless fundamental changes are made, says a leading adviser to the National Audit Office (NAO) report on public sector efficiency.

Endemic problems in the civil service mean IT delivery failures will not be solved and the eGovernment Unit’s Transformational Government (TG) strategy is ‘hype’, according to Colin Talbot, Professor of Public Policy at Manchester Business School.

‘The strategy reads like technology is a cure-all, which is massively over-hyped and doesn’t square with the record of large-scale government programmes,’ said Talbot, who regularly provides expert evidence to House of Commons committees and advises on NAO reports.

Whitehall’s preference for the ‘gifted amateur’ means senior civil servants lack hands-on experience, and recent appointments from the private sector, such as TG author Ian Watmore, are not enough, says Talbot.

‘We won’t get over these problems until there are root and branch changes,’ he said.

‘At the current rate it will take another 30 years for there to be any significant impact.’

Institute of Directors senior policy adviser Jim Norton says Talbot’s concerns are valid but unduly pessimistic.

‘It is about people and processes, not technology, and the mechanisms are there to fix the problems,’ he said.

All projects should be recognised and budgeted as business process change using existing structures such as the Gateway review system, says Norton. ‘TG can be delivered, but does need some cultural change,’ he said.

Some public sector organisations are already working on plans in line with TG’s emphasis on shared administrative systems to help meet efficiency targets. The Prison Service’s national finance project starts this spring, and up to 10 Whitehall departments are considering collaborating on human resources.

Professor Patrick Dunleavy from the London School of Economics public policy group said: ‘The current strategy is more feasible than most but I am pessimistic about shared services unless is it part of a mixed economy that gives assurance departments will get good service levels.’

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