By silicon.com, 17 November 2005 09:00
Will booking a doctor's appointment over digital TV mean people can see a GP within 24 hours? Will it mean there'll be more beds in hospital?
Will logging onto a website to check if a child is truant stop a child being truant? Or will it stop ASBOs being handed out to yobs on the street?
While there are plans afoot to revolutionise the way people interact with government, there will always be social problems. As technology develops and the government catches up with the private sector's use of IT, people are bound to get wise to the new ways the public sector operates. There are holes in every system, so watch this space for when they are found.
Overall, the government's new IT Strategy is not a bad plan. If the government can avoid more IT disasters as a result, it has the opportunity to turn the perception of public sector tech projects around.
The aim is to cut out all the inefficiencies to join up government across the UK. No one would argue against the motion to improve public services and cut waiting times.
The goal of personalising services by using media such as text messaging, email and digital TV could work, providing the services are there in the first place. Centralising services is a good move too - bringing HR, accounts and a few other teams together makes sense. But it could mean job cuts - something that governments always find it hard to get the civil service to swallow.
The big question is 'can it happen?' First of all, there are a number of contracts the government has to see out. That means it could be a couple of years before work can start everywhere.
Perhaps it's a case of wait and see. But the government has to make sure that it keeps up the momentum or its IT strategy will just become another dusty forgotten document.
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1. Richard
Should the tax man see your NHS records?
Beguiling and dangerous:
"Personalization" means identifying who is asking the question. This normally requires that you log on and/or accept a cookie. The system can then "profile" you, recording all of your enquiries and transactions.
Bad news for privacy: Good news for "Big Brother."
"Joined up government" means that different government departments pool and share your private data. This gives greater opportunities for leakage and abuse of access to that data.
Recently, we've seen too many examples of government officials and even of senior politicians abusing their access to our private data.