Government scraps plans for citizen data sharing system
Mark Ballard writes in Computer Weekly:
The government has scrapped plans for a central data-sharing system through which the personal records of everyone in the country were to be shared with all government departments.
The plans to turn the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System (CIS) into a cross-government citizen database, called CISx, have been scrapped after three years in which system designers could find no cost-effective way of linking it with other departments’ systems.
The DWP said the plans were dropped after the government announced in May that it would axe the National Identity Scheme.
“CISx was being developed by DWP and IPS [Identity and Passport Service], to support the National Identity Service (NIS). The government has closed the NIS programme and as a consequence development plans for CISx were stopped,” said the DWP in a statement.
The CISx plan was hatched in 2007 in consultation with the DVLA, and was earmarked for joint development by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as well as the IPS and DWP.
