House of Commons - Trade and Industry

Select Committee on Trade and Industry Tenth Report

V ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT

93. Central to the Government's electronic commerce agenda are the commitments made in relation to its own use of the electronic environment. These include that:[239]

90% by volume of all routine procurement of goods by central government are to be done electronically by March 2001[240]
25% by volume of all Government services are to be available electronically by 2002; 50% by 2005 and 100% by 2008.

The Central Information Technology Unit (CITU) has recently published a useful assessment of the progress made to date in relation to these targets, broken down by department.[241] Further assessments are due to appear on a six-monthly basis. DTI gave us an assessment of how the department expected to meet the targets set both in relation to procurement and making its services available electronically.[242]

94. DTI lies close to the heart of the electronic Government agenda. Proposals regarding the legal status of electronic signatures, and the promotion of digital signatures, on which we reported recently, underpin many of the services which the Government hopes to introduce in electronic format.[243] DTI has been involved in a number of high-profile electronic Government initiatives, including the introduction of electronic export licence application forms and the Post Office's controversial Horizon project, both of which we have recently inquired into.[244] The Government explained in detail its plans to allow firms to file VAT and PAYE returns electronically.[245] DTI has also established a number of internet resources, including many to help small and medium sized enterprises, for instance in relation to export opportunities.[246] CITU's analysis shows that DTI and its executive agencies have approximately 9.2 million dealings with the public per year, including payments, of which 23% can be conducted electronically. It is anticipated that 84% of these dealings will be capable of being conducted electronically by 2002.[247]

95. CITU's recent analysis of progress made to date in making Government services available on-line and our inquiries into DTI's part in that progress lead us to draw a number of general conclusions about the electronic Government agenda:

CITU's analysis shows that most Departments already provide more than 25% of their services by volume electronically. The 2002 target is therefore not particularly challenging, although the 2008 target might prove a challenge to some departments.[248] It is worth remembering that there is a major difference between a service being available electronically (eg on a floppy disk) and being available on-line, however
Making a service available electronically is no guarantee that anyone will wish to use it in that way. The Open for Business pilot project in Norwich, in which the Post Office provided a one-stop-shop for businesses to interact with Government, was used by only a tiny number of firms.[249] Although the Post Office told us that "the very few people who actually used it found it extremely beneficial" and that, for them, it was a "very valuable learning experience" it is essential that the electronic Government agenda is driven by the needs and requirements of users, not by what Government officials assume these to be
Several high-profile electronic Government projects have not progressed smoothly. The computerisation of the national insurance system has been the subject of critical reports by the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee;[250] the computerisation of the Passports Agency has caused problems in recent months;[251] and we will report soon on the considerable difficulties associated with the Post Office's Horizon project. Such projects have been "complex and adventurous", seeking to bring "a lot of government departments [and] a lot of software and technology suppliers" together, often under the auspices of a private finance initiative, and have sometimes failed to meet their ambitious timescales or to live up to their grandiose aims[252]
Many witnesses argued that the Government has an important role to play in encouraging electronic commerce by successfully implementing its own projects.[253] High-profile failures to implement electronic Government projects send out the wrong signals to the private sector about the potential attractions and benefits of electronic commerce.

96. We are concerned that the electronic Government agenda is characterised by hyperbole, over-optimism about the capabilities of management to implement novel technological systems on a large scale, and repeated failures to learn from past mistakes. There is an urgent need for a hard-headed assessment, across Government, of what electronic services are required by users and how these best can be delivered and financed. However desirable and convenient they may be in theory, ambitious cross-departmental projects and "one-stop-shops" are of no use to man nor beast unless they can be delivered on time, in budget, and in full working order. The current plague of costly, late and untested electronic Government projects must be tackled before the situation worsens.

97. We would also wish to draw attention to the concerns raised, in quite different contexts, by Age Concern and by a group of Christians opposed to the use of computer technology.[254] Care must be taken to ensure that those who cannot use new technologies, or those who, for whatever reasons, choose not to do so, are not discriminated against because of the rush to embrace electronic commerce.

Privacy

98. The Data Protection Registrar warned us of the potential tensions between proposals for the establishment of "single points of contact" between firms and individuals and Government services and data protection legislation. She suggested that "there is a temptation to use data collected for one purpose for something completely different and it is not difficult to see that the citizen may be reluctant to make use of the one stop shop if he mistrusts the ways in which any information which he provides may be used".[255] She cited, as an example, the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997 which permits the disclosure of information by the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise to the Department of Social Security (DSS), the exchange of information between the DSS and local authorities, and the exchange of information between different local authorities. The Registrar told us that, during the passage of the Bill, she had called for a statutory Code of Practice setting out the standards by which the public bodies specified in the Act must operate and the rights of individuals to redress, where appropriate. The Government conceded a voluntary Code of Practice covering only the activities of the DSS, which, the Registrar commented, was now reflected in the number of complaints she was receiving about alleged misuse of data by local authorities.[256] The Government has a duty to set the highest standards of data protection in its own electronic commerce projects.

DTI's Websites

99. We discussed earlier the use made by DTI of websites to provide information and support to small and medium sized enterprises.[257] DTI maintains or contributes to a number of other websites, aside from those concerned with business support, including for the Foresight programme, the Low Pay Commission and in relation to the provision of technical telecommunications information. We asked DTI in1998 how it measured the usage of the websites it maintained; how it advertised its websites; and how the content of its websites were monitored.[258] DTI told us that it had set up an Internet Editorial Board to "oversee all aspects of internet publishing" and that it had appointed an internet publicity manager in 1996 to manage the content of the main departmental website on a day to day basis. The Internet Editorial Board has commissioned a review of the department's website which is intended to ensure that DTI can meet its target of 25% of transactions with the public being capable of electronic delivery by 2002. DTI should seek to ensure that its websites remain up-to-date, well organised and operative in order so that they become an increasingly important means of disseminating information and facilitating contact with the public.

239 Ev, pp200-1, paragraph 4.49 Back

240 On Government procurement see Q69; Ev, p3 sections 6-7; pp11-13, annex 5, p51 section 10.3, p223 paragraph 48, p266 paragraph 16, p275 paragraph 4.7; and HC Deb, 19 Oct 98, cc1051-2w Back

241 Progress Report: Electronic Government 25% Target, Cabinet Office, May 99 (hereafter CITU Report) Back

242 Ev, pp2-4 question 8 Back

243 Ev, p200 paragraph 4.50 Back

244 Ev, pp20-1 Qq438-44; and on the DTI's own computerisation programme see DTI press notice 98/920, 20 Nov 98 Back

245 Ev, p4 question 9 Back

246 For instance see DTI press notices 99/312, 12 Apr 99; 99/376, 5 May 99; 99/524, 18 Jun 99; 99/573, 30 Jun 99; 99/576, 6 Jul 99 Back

247 CITU Report, pp24-6; at present Companies House is responsible for 7.5 million of the transactions recorded as being the responsibility of DTI and that agency's computerisation programme is primarily responsible for DTI being on course to easily meet the 2002 target Back

248 Ev, p275 paragraph 4.3 Back

249 Ev, pp20-1; Qq445-6; Government Computing, Jun 99, p6 reported that only 11 firms had registered with the pilot project Back

250 The Contract to Develop and Operate the Replacement National Insurance Recording System, National Audit Office, 1997/98, HC12; Public Accounts Committee, Forty-sixth Report, 1997/98, The Contract to Develop and Update the Replacement National Insurance Recording System, HC472; Treasury Minute on the Forty-second, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh and Fifty-seventh Reports from the Committee of Public Accounts, 1997/98, Sep 98, Cm4041; Public Accounts Committee, Twenty-second Report, 1998/99, Delays to the National Insurance Recording System, HC182 Back