Half of councils fail to hit security deadline
Government Connect programme falls further behind schedule
Councils seek deadline extensions for Government Connect
Only half of local authorities have hit the deadline to implement a secure communications infrastructure for exchanging information across the public sector.
The Government Connect programme aims to extend the Whitehall secure communications architecture to local authorities.
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said that 210 out of 410 councils were compliant with the code of connection for Government Connect in time for the 31 March deadline others have applied for extensions.
But programme director Philip Littleavon told the Mobile Government conference in London last week that all councils would be connected soon.
“I stand here today with as much certainty as you can have in the world and say that Government Connect will be available throughout all of local government by September,” he said.
The DWP told councils that those who did not comply with the code of connection which requires encryption policies and secure access to the virtual private network would be unable to access DWP data.
The department put aside a £1.5m pot to help authorities struggling to connect. So far £425,000 has been allocated to help 10 councils and another 26 bids are being evaluated.
Many councils felt the timetable had been forced on them and they had insufficient time to update systems. But Littleavon said that although there had been some opposition, the opportunities were huge.
“You can have mobile computing that connects to the government secure network that’s a huge step forward,” he said.
Littleavon said he expects the network to extend connectivity to charities, fire services and NHS trusts.
Richard Steel, president of public sector user group Socitm, said Government Connect was becoming the main channel for pan-government communications.
“We’re now urging that no new database access will be allowed without it happening through the secure extranet,” he said.