Cabinet Office Chief Information Officer

This is our second Transformational Government annual report and in it we are able to show where we have made real progress towards delivering the strategy.We have made advances in delivering public services to citizens through technology and this is an opportunity to show where we can build on our success and learn from those we serve.

The problem with history is how easy it is to forget what life was like “in the good old days”. You forget that you had to actually visit an office to undertake your simple transaction rather than just going online. You forget that you had to telephone lots of people for basic information rather than looking on a website or two. You forget that you had to plan days in advance to renew your car tax, or spend hours filling in paper forms on your planning application rather than using the Planning Portal.

It is also easy to forget that it was only two years ago that the Transformational Government Strategy was launched and since then a lot has changed.We have now firmly embedded citizen-based services at the heart of the Comprehensive Spending Review with a focus on getting it right for the citizen.We have the Chief Information Officer Council driving forward the strategic use of technology.We have also gone from shared services being a concept to a reality – not just in the back office but also in other areas such as identity and verification services via our award winning Government Gateway service.We have created an IT profession with a clear competency framework and structured development opportunities.

In order to ensure that people are receiving from us the best services possible, we need to make sure that all that we do has them and their needs at the centre.We want to be sure that what we deliver is professional and convenient for all.We are making progress and I am pleased to see what has been achieved in departments.

Those we serve want to be treated well by polite, fully trained staff. No–one wants to travel from place to place to access the services they require and the experience of our customers when they deal with us should be efficient, simple and well managed. We need to respond to the challenge of rising demands, looking for new ways to deliver our services, learning from our counterparts at home and overseas and changing the way we communicate to the people who require our services.

Public service frontline workers, both on a national and local level, have shown determination and dedication in all they do - striving to ensure they provide the most efficient, focused and best possible services for their communities. The progress we have made so far would not have been possible without our 50,000 Government IT professionals. I am proud of their hard work and dedication in supporting those in the frontline who are saving lives, preventing crime, educating our children, helping adults into work, paying benefits and providing a transport infrastructure. I would like to thank them and our colleagues in the private sector for all their work.

Looking forward, the publication of the cross cutting Service Transformation Agreement (STA) in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review puts Transformational Government at the heart of public service delivery plans for the next three years, so the focus of the next phase of our work will be driving through change across our services and realising value. From next year, to align with the STA reporting cycle, we will publish our next annual report in Spring 2009.

John Suffolk
HM Government Chief Information Officer