Saving money
We spend �16bn-�21bn a year on public sector IT. The country is in debt somewhere between �800bn and �2tr (depending on whether you count pensions, PFI liabilities etc). We can't spend more on IT. But smarter IT remains a powerful way to save the 100x larger sums we need to save. So all ideas welcome:
Public expenditure generally
How we can use contempory tech to drive savings in the UK public sector writ large: welfare, tax, defence, health, education, environment, transport, admin of public services
Large-scale IT spend
How we can spend money smarter, given the constraints of existing contracts
Liability Insurance CA
Next steps
Quick, easy, smart things we can do for next to nothing. Ideas we can pinch for nothing, eg:
- freeze all existing rolling contracts: if the IT already in use today does what it needs to do, why pay for rolling upgrades etc? Sweat the assets
- stop paying for software/hardware that does not interoperate with other systems. Seek fixes where required, or financial restitution where appropriate.
- open up all public govt data (ONS, etc). Where this impacts existing trading funds, the small amounts involved can be offset by removing cost overheads (such as axing unnecessary/costly quangos) and using money saved there to adjust budgets accordingly
- undertake "Obama-like" rapid reviews of key areas (cybersecurity, identity, trust, software, hardware, consultancy) on a rapid 60-90 day rolling programme. Identify programmes that can be axed, those that can be frozen, those that can be repurposed and those that are genuinely good and need to become examplars
- bring public sector consultancy costs into line with those of the private sector (City rates have been slashed, but Whitehall continues to pay well over the odds for dubious quality)
- bring public sector senior salaries (and remuneration packages for those on contracts rather than on the books) into line with being at the 80% percentile (max) of the private sector equivalent, link buildingor at no more than the remuneration of the Prime Minister. To pay public sector CIOs as much as �350K per annum + costs + benefits is out or proportion to both the public service ethic, the value of the role and private sector equivalents.
- review IT-related quangos. Axe those that are over-sized and serve little purpose (eg Becta - education IT standards should be encompased by overall strategic standards for the public sector). Identify those that have a conflict of interest (eg Ofcom, which is both policymaker and regulator) and adjust responsibilities and remuneration packages accordingly.
- take small pots of savings (�10-�50K) and encourage rapid open-source innvoation and development/prototyping to show the art of the possible and to encourage new ways of doing things more efficiently and differently. This should feed into a sourceforge for public sector -sharing not only software but also experiences of what does and does now work on a wider scale, including effective change and project management
- identify inefficient policies/IT systems (such as new tax credits) which continue to lose billions annually and replace with more efficient tax/welfare policies and systems that can achieve the same intended outcomes without the costly overheads)
Back to CTPR Ideal Government IT Strategy home page
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