Who lost our data expertise?
Michael Cross writes in the Guardian about the malaise at the heart of the government’s ambitious IT infrastructure projects:
The subsequent loss of the [HMRC child benefit] discs then exposes a culture – not just a one-off error – where unencrypted personal data is regularly sent back and forth between public bodies on physical media, rather than via secure networks. “They just weren’t considered important,” Margetts says.
In theory, the government has been trying to raise its game for more than two years. One of the three central aims of the Transformational Government Strategy, published in November 2005, was to create a new “IT profession in government”. Part of this process is to hire people with IT qualifications for the civil service fast stream, where they can expect to rise to the top. Six fast-streamers were hired last year; 15 will shortly be selected for entry next year.
In the context of the government’s IT programme, this is like opening a hospital before you have put the staff through medical school. The other two strands of Transformational Government create a radically new IT infrastructure, based on public bodies sharing systems, and those systems sharing data on every individual in the country.
Last December, the ambition was raised when Sir David Varney, a former chairman of HM Revenue and Customs who is now Gordon Brown’s adviser on transforming public services, published further radical plans. They are based on a passionate commitment to sharing data and systems. Today, he says, each citizen has at least five widely used identity numbers. “In future, one accurate and robust registration should underpin all services. I see absolutely no objection to public services sharing basic administrative information like names, numbers, addresses and dates of birth.”
November 29th, 2007 at 19:33
Yes, names, dates of birth, addresses. Whenever these people are asked about details they always come up with that lot. There are in fact 51 facts the id card act wants from us all — i’d say that puts it well over names, etc. These people will say anything to get the id card scheme back on track. For the sake of our democracy we must ensure it fails.
December 4th, 2007 at 13:55
Quote ‘Part of this process is to hire people with IT qualifications for the civil service fast stream, where they can expect to rise to the top.’
Probably an ex green grocer who saw the Computeach advert and fancied a BMW as well….