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WQ.49/2020
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY THE CONNÉTABLE OF ST. MARTIN
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 4th FEBRUARY 2020
Question
Will the Minister –
- explain why the Yoti digital ID system was selected as the means of identification to access the new online tax filing system; and
- state, in particular, how use of this system will respect the security measures that are currently in place for the filing of individual tax returns on paper?
Answer a)
Yoti is the Digital ID provider for all Government of Jersey online services, not just the tax return submission service.
These services, of which over 120 are now available, are accessed through the Government Services Portal, one.gov.je, but not all them have made it mandatory to verify the identity of the user, so until now, many customers haven't activated their onegov account.
Every islander is encouraged to activate their personal account on one.gov.je so that all their transactions with the Government are fully secured, through the Digital ID verification tool, Yoti and they can have a transaction history to refer back to.
Because the online tax return is one of our first services that makes it mandatory for users to verify their ID, there is predictably a very sharp increase of islanders visiting the portal and activating their accounts, a process which includes setting up a Yoti, so they can get to the tax return form.
Yoti was selected and implemented in 2018 following an open competitive procurement process and extensive due diligence assessment which considered factors including:
• Approach to privacy
• Approach to security
• Customer experience
• Product readiness (e.g. in development or live)
• Development pipeline
• Commercial offer
• Financial strength
These factors, and its potential for use them beyond government services, were significant factors. The selection decision was documented on the Government website.
The decision to appoint Yoti was taken by a cross-government panel including senior leaders from Revenue Jersey, Health and Community Services, Customer and Local Services and the States Greffe amongst others (i.e. higher risk profile) supported by external specialists in global identity consultancy.
Yoti can and is already being used by Island retailers and pubs and clubs, and festival organisers to verify the age of people purchasing age-related goods or wanting entry into an event. It also has the potential for use within the recruitment, training, travel and other sectors, and offers the safety to users of easily proving their identity without the need to carry important documents on their person which could be lost or stolen. If the adoption of Yoti by businesses across the island as their Digital ID verification solution continues, islanders will be able to have one Digital ID, conveniently on their smartphone, for many of their day to day activities.
b)
Yoti is just the digital key (similar to the banking secure key) that allows customers to verify their Identity and gain access to Government online services via the one.gov.je portal. It is completely separate to the actual forms customers use to transact with Government online. It is similar, in physical terms, to bringing a passport to the reception of a government building to prove identity, then being free to go to the relevant service desk.
The online customer will then use the appropriate form for whatever service they want, and the data they input into the form is managed by the Government's platform where all forms are run from.