Cabinet Office Chief Information Officer

A number of initiatives would only be possible with increased openness and transparency that have developed since the Transformational Government strategy. Improvement relies on a shared understanding of services grouped around customers’ needs, rather than government objectives.

Government Connect, led by local authorities, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Cabinet Office is working closely with key central government departments (specifically Department for Work and Pensions, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)) and local authorities to pilot transformational government services. HMRC, DWP, Job Centre Plus and local authorities (Merthyr Tydfil, Sedgemoor, Liverpool and Lambeth) are using the Government Connect Secure Extranet to pilot the secure transfer of data on citizens moving in and out of work to speed up the benefits process.

Joined–up service delivery

• Following a successful trial, new technology will soon allow every police force and court in the country to have instant remote access to driver information. This includes photograph and signature information and is available through desktop, laptop and handheld mobile devices. Over 10,000 enquiries are processed each week, with almost half a million enquires received since the service started in 2006, saving the Courts and defendants time through reducing the numbers of adjournments needed and saving police up to two hours of paperwork every time they carry out roadside checks on drivers.
• http://www.easyconnects.org.uk/Default.aspx?id=32 (External website) in South Yorkshire uses the internet, touch screen kiosks, mobile phones and digital television to offer information and services from a range of agencies. A benefit of this is a reduction in missed GP appointments. In one Sheffield surgery the percentage of missed appointments fell from 13 per cent to 0.5 per cent; that is an annual reduction in wasted effort of almost £90,000 for a typical practice.
• Braintree Children’s Trust (External website) created a single referral point for children's issues involving Essex County Council, the local primary care trust (PCT), Braintree District Council and Essex Police.
• National Insurance Recording System (NIRS 2) continues to show a sustained 30% improvement in performance following the system upgrade, with online transactions typically running at around 1.8 million per day and providing a stable, reliable service to 25,000 HMRC and 60,000 DWP users.
• Through its web convergence project, HMRC is working closely with Directgov [External Website] and Businesslink.gov [External Website] to identify priorities. They are working with Business Link and Companies House to develop a joint filing service allowing customers to file Company accounts information with HMRC (meeting their corporation tax obligations) and with Companies House simultaneously.
• My Business – HMRC, Business Link operators in England, Invest Northern Ireland, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise – all frontline business support organisations – have migrated their web users to the Government Gateway User ID and password to manage online identities. Around 6,000 users a month are acquiring their ID in this way.
• Department for Children, Schools and Families leads across government on online services for parents, young people and children. It also works with Communities and Local Government (CLG) and other departments on digital inclusion initiatives and in developing guidance for public sector identity assurance.
• Ministry of Defence is involved with the Supply Transformation Programme. It leads a team of Cross Government and IT Suppliers whose purpose is to deliver more effective management of IT projects. Further rollout of the magistrate’s courts’ case management system will standardise business processes for 90% of criminal cases. The programme is delivering joined-up case information working with the courts, police and other agencies, such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Television Licensing Office and the Vehicle Procedures/Fixed Penalty Office.
• 1.45m (76%) of employer Returns were filed online in 2006–07 compared to 1.1million for 2005–06, benefiting users by saving time and money.
• 1.8 million online National insurance transactions every day, benefiting users by saving time and money.
• Around 6,000 users a month are acquiring Gateway User IDs’ and passwords to manage online identities, giving people a secure and swift access to online services.
• CIS is one of Europe’s largest databases, available 24/7. It is securely accessible to 80,000 members of DWP staff, 60,000 users from seven other government departments, and over 445 local authorities (including Northern Ireland), identifying efficiencies on behalf of DWP, OGDs and agencies.
• Tax credits –accuracy in processing and calculating awards rose significantly from 78.6% in 2003/04 to 97.7% in 2005/06, enabling more people to receive the right money.
• 13.2 million transactions were processed in January 2007 alone by the Police National Computer, enabling quicker joined–up crime fighting.
• The violent offender and sex offender register (ViSOR) is a secure national database that can be accessed by the Police, Probation and Prison Service establishments. Thisallows the three services to access one IT system, reducing re–offending by allowing staff to make accurate and informed risk assessments, reducing the possibility of re–offending. It is to be rolled out to all prisons following a successful pilot.
• The Joint Border Operations Centre Opened in 2005, the Joint Border Operations Centre (JBOC) runs Semaphore, an e–Borders system matching information travel documents with data from the Borders and Immigration Agency, HM Revenue & Customs, the Police, the identity and Passport Service and UKvisas. The system is managed by the Trusted Borders consortium, led by Raytheon Systems Limited since April 2008 following contract award in November 2007.
  
  The JBOC is the operational hub of Semaphore and will continue to form a key initial part of the main e–Borders solution from October 2008.

Tell us Once
• Tell Us Once is a cross–government initiative looking at whether it is feasible to allow someone to notify local and central government only once of a birth, death or change of address, and for this information to be passed on to other relevant government departments on their behalf.
• The feasibility study will culminate in a business case which will be presented to Senior Officials from Local Government, DWP, HMRC, IPS, DFT, Cabinet Office, HMT, CLG and the Information Commissioner–s Office in April 2009 to enable Government to decide if it will proceed with the roll–out of a full service. A range of pilot and pathfinder activities are underway to test various service propositions, including online demonstrators to illustrate what a Tell Us Once website would look like and how it could operate, and how an online verification process could work.