WRITTEN ON November 5th, 2005 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Uncategorized
I learned at the launch party at the Home Office that it’s a “stake in the ground”. Yes, they’re open to comments, but it’s not as tentative as a consultation; departments can work using it as a basis with immediate effect (as Tom Raggett rightly comments).
The fact it’s presented by the CIO Council means it aims from the outset to be a shared way forward, and not the umpeenth in a series of central directives (see history of CCTA, CITU and OoeE output).
Jim Murphy spoke. He’s a Scot with a good sense of humour, and from what he said he’s happy to be learning on the job from direct experience from the user point of view. He had more of a day than he has yet told us, as he appears to have been promoted de facto on the very day of the launch. I’ve seen annnouncements of John Hutton’s promotion, and evidence of Jim Murphy taking on John Hutton’s responsibilities, but I’m not sure how the Cabinet Office job titles have panned out.
Thanks for people’s comments to date on Ideal Government. And we’ve got 18 new registered authors since Thursday (see below). Looking forward to seeing your views.
So far, that’s
Alison Partington
Sue Holloway
Mike Keane
Julie George
Paul Spencer, Boynings
Terry Robinson, Macromedia
Andy Saunders, Wyse Solns
Ingrid Strawson, IBM
John Hudgell, Xerox
Ian Adkins, Mason
Steve Webb, Teamware
Julia Wall, BT Connect
Adrian Norman
Andy Long, EasyNet
Richard Barrington, Sun
Sharanne Basham-Pyke, BT
Peter Fagan, Health Intl
Maggie Barr, Fujitsu
I switched to adding company affiliation for extra clarity. If anyone wants to add or change that do it in My account/Username and Password.
Transformational Government – Sharing, Teamwork and belief in the strategy
There are four insights and assumptions in the strategy that I find illuminating: The first sound to me that there are substantial problems with cross department co-operation and teamwork –
This could be interpreted, and in our experience, substantiated by the “Not invented here” resistance to utilising “Shared” services:
The strategy quotes:
“Customer Service Centres, such as those for customer contact or payment processes, where there is significant scope for rationalisation through sharing, particularly if central, local and other public sector bodies can team up.”
“Bodies awarding funding should presume that public service organisations only deliver good value for money when they standardise and share services with others.”
“Central government, devolved administrations, local government and other public services – to identify areas of common purpose and opportunities for specific shared actions.”
Undoubtedly the CIO Council will help to break these problems down. But as the strategy points out: “The Shared Services agenda is a major cultural shift for the wider public sector.”
A news article published this week headlined “A problem shared” details how fundamental this issue is. This article reported that two local authorities had come to an agreement of leaf-clearing duties. The County Council will clear up only wet leaves, because they are hazardous. The Borough Council will clear up only dry leaves because they are litter.
The strategy continues with an optimistic view of “Beyond 2011″ :
“The culture of government will have changed to one which embraces – rather than shuns – sharing, which will continue to breakdown the silos perceived today.”
Sadly, I suspect that the Prime Minister may share these views, with only a luke warm support for the strategy in the forward:
“This strategy has the potential for real transformation of public services.“
He is heartened by the fact that this strategy has come from the “Ground up”. I wonder how many levels of Management there are between the members of the CIO Council and front-line staff who transact daily with the general public – I would say 4 to 5 – An interesting definition of the “Ground”