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Last updated: 23 November 2008
18 January 2007
CAB/03/07
Speaking at the e–Government National Awards in London last night, Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden presented a determined outline of the ambition he wants IT professionals and the public to have about government IT in coming years, and warned against ‘national defeatism’ on this issue:
‘First of all, there is no plan for a new supercomputer or a new government database. What the government is doing is asking whether we can do a better job for people, at critical moments in their lives, by making sure that one part of government talks to another when dealing with related issues
‘If things go wrong with government IT we should hold our hands up, fix the problem or learn the lessons. But it would not only be factually wrong to say this was the case for all government investment in technology – it would also represent a damaging national defeatism about the future.
‘People's empowerment is not going to go backwards. We cannot allow the belief to take hold that somehow government cannot be part of this change, that we should be frozen in time, that creative people can never suggest ideas or drive through projects to improve the quality of service to the public or make their lives better because someone says it won't work.
‘That would be an appalling national judgement to make and would hold us back as a country. Of course the Government has a duty to invest taxpayers' money wisely and it is fair that we be criticised when Government gets it wrong but we must never let creativity and ambition be defeated by the default nostalgia that says things were always better in the past and it's not worth trying to do things better in the future.’
Nearly 100 excellent public sector IT projects were recognised at the awards, which are now in their third year of providing solid evidence that, despite its challenges, Government IT works for the benefit of millions day in, day out.
The award winners ranged from Shelter, the housing advice organisation, to Transport Direct (www.transportdirect.info[External website]) and its 300 billion journey options and 94 per cent user satisfaction, and Rotherham Council's clever e–procurement system that has abolished the filling in of 80,000 forms a year.
Pat McFadden and John Suffolk congratulated the Cabinet Office nominees for the awards, Directgov (www.direct.gov.uk[External website]) which attracts more than five million users a month, and the Government Gateway registration service which has more than nine million registered users.
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