This snapshot taken on 26/07/2008, shows web content selected for preservation by The National Archives. External links, forms and search boxes may not work in archived websites.
The Rt. Hon. Patricia HewittMicrosoft Government Leaders Conference |
 |
|
| (Click picture for biography) | |
Introduction Chairman, thank you for inviting me to join you here today. I was appointed as the UK's first eMinister last July, which means that I have now been in the job for 3 Internet years. So it is a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity of a discussion with people who are at the leading edge of e-business and e-government. We have heard over the last 2 days that this revolution needs to be led from the front. Political leaders - and senior officials - using the new technology, not just talking about it. Our Prime Minister, Tony Blair, realised he needed to get up to speed with the Internet. So last year, he went on a course. He turned up at this local library and signed up for a free two-hour session. After a while, he noticed that the chap next to him was looking more and more uncomfortable. So Tony leant across and said: "I know it's a bit odd, having the Prime Minister sitting next to you. But I'm just an ordinary bloke and I'm trying to learn all this stuff, so don't let it worry you." "Oh that doesn't worry me at all" his neighbour said. "It's just that I can't help noticing that in the last hour, I've got most of the exercises right - and you've been getting them wrong. So what I want to know is, how come you're the Prime Minister? and I've been unemployed for ten years?". I guess the Prime Minister knows that we're all at risk of unemployment if we don't keep up. And he's determined that our country - which, after all led the world into the first industrial revolution - should be one of the leaders in the new, knowledge-driven economy. That is why, last year, he set us the goal of becoming the best place in the world for e-commerce. Last month, he added a second goal: universal Internet access no later than 2005. And last week - at a special meeting of his Cabinet devoted to the knowledge economy - he announced a third: all government services on-line by 2005. Closing the technology gap This may sound like hubris coming from a country that entered the Internet age in the second wave. But the technology gap between the USA and the UK - more broadly, between the USA and Europe - is closing fast. And in some areas, it is Europe that leads the way. Mobile devices and digital TV will create the next big leap forward for the Internet. Both are new technologies where the UK - and more broadly Europe - is a world leader. We are now holding the world's first auction for third generation mobile telephone spectrum. We have seen the penetration of digital TV increase from zero to almost 3 million in a little over a year. The increase in take-up is even faster than in the Internet itself. This leading-edge market is one reason why the UK remains the single most popular destination for inward investment into Europe. Strategy We're determined to keep it that way - and to do even better. We have to get the market framework right. That means driving competition further and faster into the telecommunications market. Last month, an OECD report confirmed that for off-peak Internet access, the UK is the cheapest in the world. And the new unmetered Internet packages that are now being introduced will soon mean that, for peak-time access, we should be the cheapest in Europe. We have to get the people right - above all, by closing the digital divide. We are investing £1.7 billion in our national IT strategy. Connecting all our schools and libraries through the National Grid for Learning. Offering cheap PCs to low-income families. And creating 700 Online centres this year in disadvantaged communities. And we have to make government itself a leading-edge user of the new technologies. We are delivering on all three elements of the strategy. But I want to say more about what we're doing to deliver government online because that is where we face the biggest challenges. And remember we are trying to move online the government of an entire country, not just a state or city. We intend to provide public services that match - or surpass - the best in the world. And we see Information and Communications technology as the tool that can help us to do that. Government content, and government transactional services, need to be available online - across wired and wireless networks - to whatever device the citizen wants to use, PC, interactive TV, telephone, mobile PDA, kiosk, whatever. So we need all the staff who work in the public sector enabled and empowered by the same web-based services? staff in back offices, staff in call centres, and staff in front-line locations delivering face-to-face services, all working with the same information on the same networked systems. Not government organised to suit the needs of its staff; but government organised to suit the needs of citizens. It's a big vision. It means profound transformation within government. We have to create coherent IT platforms, so that incompatible legacy systems can communicate with each other - although we face that challenge, like every large business. We are now moving all our government departments on to the Government Secure Intranet. But a bigger issue is moving from the vertical silos in which government is organised today, to the horizontal processes that are essential if we are to deliver the right outcomes for our people. And managing the enormous cultural change that new ways of working mean for the people who deliver public services. Two days ago we published our e-government strategy. It's our road-map for this journey. And it's backed up by detailed technical framework policies on issues including smartcards, authentication, data standards, security and privacy. The technology is only a small part of the change. But we have to get it right if everything else is going to work. Like every other large organisation, we have had a number of high profile IT disasters. So we have commissioned a study to learn from these disasters. There is also a tension between central standard setting and departmental autonomy. But the example of business has shown us that we do need central standards. So in the next few weeks we will be publishing a single set of standards for inter-operability across government. Let me say a bit about that. We are following the lead of business by adopting I/P based standards for all government systems. Making the browser the key interface for access and manipulation of all information. Adopting XML as the cornerstone for government data inter-operability and integration. And working with the global Govtalk consortium to create the infrastructure we need for implementation. XML is essential for truly open portals to government services. So we have been working with BASDA - the business & Accounting Software Developers Association - to apply XML in G to C - Government to Citizen - transactions. Together with our Inland Revenue service, BASDA has developed a standard SML message to handle Self assessment income tax returns in preparation for the Government's launch of its Internet Self Assessment Filing Service. The new service, which will be the first tax service in the world to use XML technology, is due to go live at the end of this month. Registration online started 2 days ago. If XML delivers on its promise, it will be the means of overcoming the incompatiblity between our legacy systems without replacing all of them. I'd like to show you some other examples of how we are delivering our vision of on-line government. The Knowledge Network You may have had a chance to watch Prime Minister's questions on CNN. Once a week, for half an hour, the Prime Minister goes to the House of Commons and answers questions on any subject from other Members of Parliament. You can imagine the briefing that takes place beforehand. It used to be done on paper based systems. Now it's moving on-line. The PM's office now has over 4000 documents, all on-line, all regularly updated, that can be accessed by any of the staff in 10 Downing Street. That system will soon become part of a government-wide Knowledge Network that will link Government Departments and key agencies with each other and with the outside world. On-line information on government policy and implementation. Ministers and officials will be able to slice and dice data as we want it. I will be able to look at what we have done in my own constituency in Leicester? How many more businesses have been created in the last year? What is happening to the incomes of elderly people? Or families with children? Or people from different ethnic communities? What is happening in each of the nations and regions of the UK? The Knowledge Network will be a powerful tool for change across government. But it will also help to transform relations between government and citizens, enabling every member of the public to have access to the same information about government as those whom they element to represent them. British Trade International British TradeUK (www.tradeuk.com/menu) gives UK exporters a free database entry on the web, with links to each firm's own websites. In the first eighteen months, over 55k firms listed. It uses e-mail to alert firms to export opportunities identified by our embassies and consulates and increasingly from overseas buyers themselves. We're also transforming the services we offer British residents wanting to travel abroad. The Foreign Office websites gives visitors up to date information about travel conditions around the world. It maintains a record of people who've enquired about each country ? and uses push technology to e-mail them with updates. That's a service we could never have provided in the old days. SBS Gateway This week we launched the new Small Business Service to improve our support to small and growing businesses. The SBS is creating its new portal, businessadviceonline. (www.businessadviceonline.org/) Our vision is that every business - and every entrepreneur - should be able to access the same information, expertise and services online, through a call centre or through their own business advisor. We will grow the service with the help of our customers. By next year, businessadviceonline will be offering a personalised portal of support for every business user. NHSDirect online We have also begun to modernise our National Health Service. Our first innovation was NHS Direct, a 24 hour, seven day a week telephone helpline staffed by nurses, utilising cutting edge call centre technology. The NHS Direct principle is to give people fast and convenient advice and information so that they can look after themselves and their families when it is safe for them to do so, and to guide them to the right health service, at the right time and the right place, when they need professional care. Routinely two thirds of callers are advised to take a more appropriate course of action than they had intended before making the call. And that's particularly important when you realise that thousands of people would otherwise have gone to an over-crowded Accident and Emergency Ward when they didn't actually need to. Now we have NHS Direct Online which will also be a gateway to other health information and databases on the web. Information on health is one of the main reasons people use the Internet but the quality of the material is now always reliable. NHS Direct Online has evaluated all the main sites and signposts people to the best ones to use. Meanwhile we're modernising the IT network for the NHS itself. One of the first priorities will be to connect doctors' surgeries with hospitals' booking systems, so that patients no longer have to wait for days or weeks to find out when their hospital appointment is - and then struggle to change it if the date is inconvenient. Online booking systems will transform the quality of service for patients, save hours of precious doctors' time, and slash the number of appointments wasted because the patient doesn't show up. Starting with pilots - the best way to learn, to win support and prove the way for really big rollout which takes time. We need to think big, start small, scale fast. Me.gov Departmental websites currently have a very different look and feel. We have published guidelines on style, navigation etc. We now plan to create a new portal whose working title is me.gov. Our vision is a portal to all government services that will allow people to select and receive the information they want. Updated on curriculum, for instance, if they have school-age children - or if they are engaged in adult learning. News on developments in their local community. Access to their individual social security or taxation records. Of course, that will take time to achieve. The first release will provide a general gateway to government information. We will then build in more functionality - change of address, for instance, so that you no longer have to notify different departments and agencies when you move house. An email directory for the whole of government. Reminders of appointments - for instance, driving test booked for certain date. On-line driver and vehicle registration, as well as on-line tax filing. So the portal will be a single view not just for information, but for transactional services. And it will be personalisable to the needs of individual citizens. There are many other projects that I could mention - including the Office of Government Commerce that will modernise procurement. Culture Change Before I close, let me say something about how we are trying to achieve the underlying culture change in the UK Government. We can only create a successful e-business or e-government if it's led from the top - and led by people who use the network themselves and understand its power. Not all our government ministers work online - but more and more are beginning to do so. Last week, the Prime Minister devoted an entire Cabinet meeting to our strategy for e-commerce and e-government. They have committed themselves to the stretching goals I referred to earlier - and to drive the necessary changes through each department. Below the level of the Cabinet, as e-Minister, I co-ordinate our strategy across government - and chair a network of e-Ministers in every department. I am supported by a lead official, our e-envoy, who is based at the centre of government - in our Cabinet office. He in turn chairs an Information Age Champions network of senior officials in every department and agency. Half a dozen of them are at this conference this week. Finally, we are creating cross-departmental structures. One is a special spending review on e-commerce and e-government issues, led by a Treasury Minister and myself, where we will make sure that we are on track to deliver our goals - and that we have budgets lined up behind the work programmes. But increasingly we realise we need to create agencies like the Small Business Service - people who will focus on a group of customers and package up content and services from different departments in ways that are most useful to the customers. We are now merging our old Employment Service and Benefits Agency into a single service - called ONE - that will deliver services to people of working age. In the jargon, these are the 'content integrators' who will help us move from the old ways, when the producers designed the services, to the new ways, when the customer - or the citizen - is king. UK Online In the global economy, the new global policy community should enable us to learn from each other. All of us in government need to undertake the political importance of the ICT revolution. First, it is speeding up process of job creation and job destruction. Giving people confidence that they can do these new jobs. Second, it is transforming peoples expectations of convenience and quality of service. Citizen's now expect the same level of customer service from government that they get from dot.coms. Third, it transforms information flows. A government that's not on the Net risks being damaged by information that others put on Net. But government using the net to communicate directly to citizens could transform the democratic relationship. |
|
|
|
|
Other speeches by The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt
(the following are available from the archive) |
|
