IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Conservatives have expressed concern after it emerged that council bureaucrats are to be armed with sweeping new powers to snoop on private homes for ID card evasion.

Shadow Constitutional Affairs Secretary Oliver Heald accused Labour ministers of adopting "Big Brother" methods to enforce planned new ID card rules, which could include imposing fines of up to £2,500.

Contributions to the Socitm conference posted warnings about the government's transformation agenda

Speaking at Society for IT Management's conference in Harrogate, William Heath, chairman of Kable, said on 3 October 2006 there was a streak of "hierarchical or authoritarian intent" in the agenda.

The Transformational Government implementation plan was published today by the Cabinet Office.

Last November Transformational Government set out the Government's vision for a long-term transformation of public services to provide efficient, effective services that citizens want. The scale of the change, as set out in the strategy, will not be completed overnight. The broad timing for three phases of work spanning the next eighteen months, the period to 2011 and beyond was set out in its 'Timetable for Change'.

Last November Transformational Government set out the Government's vision for a long-term transformation of public services to provide efficient, effective services that citizens want. The scale of the change, as set out in the strategy, will not be completed overnight. The broad timing for three phases of work spanning the next eighteen months, the period to 2011 and beyond was set out in its 'Timetable for Change'.

This is a must-read document for anyone in the public sector involved in service strategy, e-Government or IT. The implementation plan takes this a step further and focuses on the immediate priorities to mid 2007.

The Transformational Government implementation plan published yesterday by the Cabinet Office is a cruicial step in modernising our public sector – and the man in the hot seat is Ian Watmore.

Ian Watmore, Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, says in the Implementation Plan’s introduction: “The publication of Transformational Government in November drew positive comment from colleagues, the media, industry and industry watchers. I believe this reflects the collaborative approach and wide-ranging engagement that took place both inside and outside of Government whilst the strategy was being prepared. We have since received submissions in response to the strategy from over 100 organisations and individuals – a summary of the main issues raised is being published with the plan.”

Richard Sarson asks how the private sector can help the Government implement its new IT strategy, 'Transformational Government' - enabled by technology.

By the end of 2005, it is claimed, central and local government had achieved 96 per cent of Tony Blair's target of 'e-enabling' all government services. In November, he and the Cabinet Office launched the next phase of its strategy to use technology to transform government services. This time around, the plan is 'to join up and share services rather than duplicate them', thereby unlocking around £1.4 billion (10 per cent of the current spend on technology), and releasing some of the 50,000 IT staff currently tied up in developing departmental computer systems. These savings will be on top of the 86,000 jobs supposed to be cut by Sir Peter Gershon's 2004 Efficiency Review.

Customer service directors working across departments are part of the long awaited e-government strategy

A new cross cutting team to promote shared services, public services via mobile phones and "customer service directors" in Whitehall are all part of the Transformational Government strategy published on 2 November 2005.

While discussing the launch of the revised policy documents on information age and transformation, Craig Russell from the Scottish Executive, explores the core themes of the transformation process while highlighting some key examples.

The First Minister set out the challenges and opportunities facing Scotland over the next 20 years as part of his lecture in May at Stirling University about the Futures Project. The Futures Project aims to ensure that all the aspects of government activity work effectively together to best position Scotland for the future. We must ensure that our public services are able to cope with and respond to these challenges.