Many of the public sector information technology sector’s worst fears about cuts were realised in last week’s ‘emergency Budget’ from the UK’s new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, one IT policy expert has told E-Government Bulletin.
Martin Ferguson, head of policy at the Society of IT Management (Socitm), said that some of the cuts announced in the Budget by Chancellor George Osborne could have dangerous knock-on effects for public sector IT, such as the additional expenditure reductions of £30 billion a year planned up to 2014-2015. “In a way our worst fears were realised around the 25% reduction in public expenditure over the next three years or so. The fear is that this will be spread across the whole of public services, including IT”, said Ferguson.
In response to these cuts, and the Budget’s lack of acknowledgement of the potential efficiency savings available through IT, Ferguson reiterated the point made by new Socitm president Jos Creese in the organisation’s response to the Budget (http://bit.ly/bhsFDm). “If we’re really going to transform and drive efficiency in public services, the only way we can achieve that is by better deployment of IT, and that requires effort, resources and staff”, Ferguson said.
However, he said he was optimistic that some of the Budget’s efficiency proposals may have a positive effect on public services overall. “My hope is that the sheer scale of the cuts required will actually foster a new era of innovation and creativity in public services. Hopefully we’ll see the very best examples – shared services, collaborative efforts – finding their way into more widespread practice”, he said.
In a further efficiency move aimed at saving millions of pounds, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude announced last week that hundreds of central government websites will be shut down after a review of all 820 government sites has been conducted. The review, announced by Maude after a report from the Central Office for Information found that government spent a total of £126 million on website costs and staff fees during 2009-10, is expected to result in the closure of 75% of government websites and will look at cutting the costs of remaining sites by 50%.
No new government websites will be permitted without approval from the government’s Efficiency Board, a group responsible for overseeing the government’s efficiency and reform programme co-chaired by Maude and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander. Also sitting on the Efficiency Board will be Martha Lane Fox, the former dot.com entrepreneur recently re-appointed as UK ‘Digital Champion’. Lane Fox’s duties include encouraging people to come online and driving improvement to online public services.
NOTE: Article originally published in E-Government Bulletin issue 315.
