E-government

7

1240/5(8733)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 14th APRIL 2015

Question

Following his responses to several questions on the e-government (e-gov) project can the Chief Minister inform members –

1. What the "new initiative" which is being developed, along with re-planning, to start in May 2015, actually is and how this connects with the £579,000 spent on redesigning gov.je along with the £328,000 deemed necessary to establish a "core design and business case";
2. What proportion of the £1.47 m spent on e-gov so far has been on consultancy work with ATOS or others;
3. What budget has been allocated to the e-gov project in 2015 and beyond and does the Chief Minister have an estimate for a cap on spending to develop e-gov services;
4. When the Chief Minister has stated in response to questions that "not all of the spend has been wasted" what sums does he consider as wasted; and,
5. When he spoke of "the U.K. Government's digital services as . recognised around the world as the best approach" was he referring to the roll-out in the UK of Universal Benefit and, if not, why not?

Answer

1. The new initiative' is a redefined scope and approach to the delivery of eGovernment. In the context of procuring support to help deliver eGovernment, we will break down the services we require into smaller, manageable pieces of work.

The website, gov.je, remains central to our plans to deliver more online services. The core design and business case' provides the foundation on which to build our eGovernment programme.

2. £1.8m has actually been spent on eGovernment to the end of 2014, plus £338,000 on the customer mapping carried out by ATOS in 2012. These figures are contained in an amended answer to Written Question 8666 (10 March 2015) and relate to an accounting adjustment. The total amount spent on consultancy, including ATOS, is £663,000.
3. £4.9m has been allocated to eGovernment for 2015. Any future requirements will be incorporated in the MTFP2. The budget represents the value of our committed investment in the eGovernment programme. I will continually review our progress and revise budget commitments subject to the programme's performance in delivering improved customer services and a more efficient public sector.
4. The spend' refers to both time and money and I do not believe any money has been wasted. The decision to redefine the approach to delivering eGovernment has caused a delay in implementation. This has provided us with greater insight into how to deliver this complex change programme and consequently increases the likelihood of successful delivery. As previously stated the costs associated with the programme remain a sound investment and have delivered proof of concept, exemplars, a customer mapping project and a business case for investment.

5. The reference to the UK Government Digital Services (GDS) is not connected with the roll- out of Universal Benefit. It was referring to the UK's successful approach to consolidating and simplifying all its government websites into one, clear site, as we have been doing with gov.je.