MPs 'concerned' about government's Digital by Default strategy

Science and Technology Committee voices doubts over £1.8bn annual savings target and personal data security measures

MPs on the Science and Technology Committee have raised a number of concerns about the government's Digital by Default strategy.

The strategy, first announced by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude in June last year, is for the provision of digital public services and the eventual replacement of telephone and in-person transactions.

A Digital Strategy document released in November last year claimed that the strategy would save between £1.7bn and £1.8bn per year in phone call handling and face-to-face admin costs. The government is aiming to have the Digital by Default strategy fully implemented by April 2014.

However, the Science and Technology Committee, which seeks to ensure that Whitehall policy and decision-making is based on good scientific and engineering advice and evidence, has written to Maude questioning the potential savings promised by the strategy and its implications for personal data security.

It wants the government to clarify how the savings are going to be made as services become Digital by Default, and suggests that the breakdown should include the costs of designing or redesigning online services.

"A key justification of the Digital by Default strategy is savings to the taxpayer. Yet it is not evident that the government is even able to measure these savings," chair of the committee Andrew Miller said.

In June last year, Maude acknowledged that in the past, the UK public sector has been synonymous with high-profile failures of both aspiration and technology. But the committee is still concerned that once public services go online, the government may fail to keep up with advances in technology, and feels that inadequacies in government software may lead to security vulnerabilities.

It said that third-party suppliers who provide identity assurance could pass on their security vulnerabilities.

"Public trust is absolutely essential. The government must ensure the integrity and security of data and give people sufficient control over their stored personal information otherwise the Digital by Default strategy will not succeed. We will continue to monitor the implementation of the strategy," Miller stated.

The committee said it had considered the government's identity assurance principles and suggested that there be a ninth principle that states that "if a dispute arises concerning a citizen's online dataset, that the citizen should be initially presumed correct; and if a mistake has been made, the citizen's data should be instantly corrected".

In response to questions about the annual savings target, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said:

"Our Digital by Default strategy sets out a vision for delivering digital government services that are so good, people will choose to use them. It will transform public services so that they are world-leading and save millions of pounds for the taxpayer, helping us address the deficit. The savings already delivered have been recognised by bodies such as the National Audit Office, but we are working hard to improve the quality our data".

The spokesperson also claimed that privacy and security have been designed in to its identity assurance programme, by working with experts to develop the service.

"It will be based on published standards of security and information assurance, and identity providers will have to be certified as meeting these standards," the spokesperson said.

The Cabinet Office has until October to respond to the committee. It said it would respond to the committee in due course.