IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

The IT world knows that much new software underpinning e-enabled public services comes from overseas, mainly India. Without the Chennai software industry, the NHS national programme for IT would be doomed. The assumption, however, is that offshoring stops at code-cutting. Anything involving processing data about citizens stays within national boundaries. This fiction comes from the same people purveying the myth that computers can cut the cost of government without making public employees redundant. Neither story can be maintained for much longer.

Growing pressure on the government to cut its multibillion-pound IT spending bill means it is increasingly likely that major public sector contracts will be awarded to offshore IT service providers.

A new cross-party parliamentary group was launched last week to stimulate India-UK trade and investment opportunities ­ – and IT is an important part of the plan.

The department has signed a three-year contract with Siemens Business Services to create a database of the documents, and says that part of the work will be carried out offshore, to keep costs down.