back to article Mind the GaaP: UK.gov needs to get a grip on digital

The UK government’s digital strategy is among the many things Brexit has put a lit match to, and, amid the current EU exit plan bunfighting, it’s unlikely to top any “Right, what the hell do we do now?” lists. Faced with the fallout from Brexit on IT systems, Whitehall technocrats will no doubt want to erect – or dust off – an …

  1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    "The paper concludes that a new approach is needed where policy making should lead technology; not vice versa."

    Policy making leading technology - did that ever happen? Anytime, anywhere?

  2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Windows

    It would be a world first!

    Unfortunately the probability of success is epsilon.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    policy divisions, government lawyers and parliamentary clerks "working under huge pressure to redesign the UK's administrative legislation following Brexit."

    Oh yes? All the EU directives have been written into UK law. That law still stands after we leave the EU. And it would seem hugely improbable that those UK laws will be rescinded purely because of our leaving the EU - as much as anything else, whoever thinks they're in government would need to think what they want to put in its place that is both different and better. And in many cases the enthusiastic signing-without-reading of treaties by the British government over decades means that if they rescinded an EU specified law, they'd have to put in place something very similar indeed.

    I worked in the Civil Service, and it was hell. A job creation scheme without equal, but "working under huge pressure...." ? In the Civil Service that simply means working through your tea break.

  4. energystar
    Holmes

    This is one the biggest challenges Government has on near future...

    This is one the biggest challenges Government has on near future...

    Government engineering is DIFFERENT from other engineering. Think of Roman Public Infrastructure, compared to those beautiful -very high maintenance- villas.

    That idea seems waiting yet, to leak down to IT.

  5. energystar
    Windows

    One last thing...

    Listen to your trusted Elders. Leave the tech fades to ethereal Spirits.

  6. energystar
    Windows

    Career Service a Must.

    Continuity is of tremendous importance to all things Gov Engineering. Seniority Financially and Long Term Planning backed.

  7. davenewman

    Estonia has done it

    The small government of Estonia decided what they wanted to do, then asked techies how to do it from scratch, ignoring what the Russians had built.

    It worked, mainly because many of the Government Ministers had technical skills not taught in the Oxford PPS, and know where they wanted to go.

    It also helped that it was so slow the civil servants in different departments talked to each other - like in Northern Ireland under Des Vincent but never in Whitehall.

  8. CustardGannet

    “If government had any sense..."

    A superlative idea, sir, with just two minor flaws: one, the government don't have any sense; and two, the government don't have any sense.

    Now I realise that - technically speaking - that's only one flaw, but I thought it was such a BIG one it was worth mentioning twice.

  9. David 164

    May be instead they should just concentrate on making services easier, better to use rather than it primarily being about saving money.

  10. Mike 137 Silver badge

    Charity begins at home?

    "The paper concludes that a new approach is needed where policy making should lead technology; not vice versa." - from an organisation promoting this concept in an online paper entitled "Fulltext.pdf"

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why does this need to be so gad damn difficult

    Baffles me...for someone who has lots of experience in the public sector, both in my role and in listening to that of my wife who works in the public sector there is very little logic. Why put flashy bells and whistles on an ugly back end? It wont work - get your back house in order first before you start doing any of the 'sexy' front end stuff. I know why they do it because its visible innit and people can see that something has been done.

    Public sector approach to most things lacks logic, or rather it knows what the logic is but is overly concerned on how this will impact the fiefdom. There are absolutely some sound projects across the sector that have been successful but they are few and far between, they are definitely outweighed by the lack of progress on a ton of other initiatives.

    We need to stop banging on about digital, who gives a stuff about what digital is - digital is surely just tactical to the what is the bigger strategy. Tech is important, but GDS is guilty of drinking its own coolade. What do you want to do and how are you going to do it..personally I dont care, use horse and carts to transform, just get on and do it please.

    1. David 164

      Re: Why does this need to be so gad damn difficult

      Not always, don't know about the government, the banks won't touch their backend because they afraid of breaking them and hardly anyone fully understand how it all works. I wouldn't be surprise if the government was in the same position.

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