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Lessons from a government agile success
By Tony Collins Some central government departments spend a great deal with large suppliers on the development and maintenance of their websites (more on this in a separate post). They could save...
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Frustrated with the system – Govt CIOs, executive directors, change agents
By Tony Collins Today The Times reports, in a series of articles, of tensions in Whitehall between ministers and an “unwilling civil service” over the pace of change. It says a “permanent cold war” is...
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Cabinet Office’s procurement reforms start to pay off
By Tony Collins Attempts by the Cabinet Office to reform the way central government buys goods and services are beginning to pay off says a report of the National Audit Office today. SMEs are also...
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Francis Maude –“unacceptable” civil service practices
By Tony Collins Francis Maude laments civil service inaction over a cabinet committee mandate for centralising procurement. It “corrodes trust in the system”. Gus O’Donnell, the former head of the...
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Will Universal Credit ever work? – NAO report
By Tony Collins Today’s National Audit Office report Universal Credit: early progress is one of most excoriating the NAO has published on a government IT-enabled project or programme. Iain Duncan...
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MPs dig hard for truth on Universal Credit IT
By Tony Collins “Just answer the question … please!” Rarely has any chair of the Public Accounts Committee pleaded so frequently with a permanent secretary not go round the houses when answering...
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Universal Credit to be partly online
By Tony Collins At yesterday’s Work and Pensions Committee hearing Howard Shiplee, Director General for Universal Credit, confirmed what many have been saying: that UC will not be an entirely online...
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Are Govt IT-based project disasters over? Ask the Army
By Tony Collins When senior civil servants know an IT-based project is in trouble and they’re unsure how bad things are, they sometimes offer their minister an all-encompassing euphemism to publicly...
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BBC World at One’s focus on Government IT
By Tony Collins The lead item on BBC R4′s World at One on Friday was about Government IT contracts. On the programme were the government’s Chief Procurement Officer Bill Crothers, Cabinet Office...
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A welcome boost for agile in government
By Tony Collins David Wilks, Digital Performance Manager at Government Digital Service, which is part of the Cabinet Office, says there has been “incredible” interest in clarified guidance that makes...
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DWP tries again to stop release of Universal Credit reports
By Tony Collins The Department for Work and Pensions has requested another legal hearing in its attempt to stop four ageing reports on the Universal Credit programme being published. The DWP’s formal...
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Some of the strengths and weaknesses in GovIT – Phil Pavitt
By Tony Collins Phil Pavitt was CIO at HM Revenue & Customs. He left two years ago and arrived at Specsavers via Aviva where he was global director of IT transformation. At HMRC he was a main board...
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Universal Credit full business case “a long way from Treasury approval”
By Tony Collins Yesterday in Parliament Iain Duncan Smith gave a statement on Universal Credit – then MPs asked him questions. Conservative MP Nigel Mills asked IDS a straightforward question: “Can...
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Universal Credit: some highlights of today’s NAO report
By Tony Collins Excerpts from today’s National Audit Office report “Universal Credit: progress update” … Not complete by 2020 “Not all legacy benefit claimants will have moved to Universal Credit by...
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DWP will fight to stop publication of Universal Credit reports whoever wins...
By Tony Collins On 7 July 2004 the Work and Pensions Committee called on the DWP to be “significantly more open about its IT projects”. Today – 11 years later – the DWP is fighting to stop publication...
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DWP “evasive” and “selective” with information on Universal Credit programme
By Tony Collins Has the Department for Work and Pensions put itself, to some extent, beyond the scrutiny of Parliament on the Universal Credit IT programme? Today’s report of the Public Accounts...
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Is DWP’s Universal Credit FOI case a scandalous waste of public money?
By Tony Collins It’s extraordinary that some of the Department for Work and Pensions’ main arguments against publishing three reports on the Universal Credit programme resemble, in part, those given by...
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Crabb’s momentous FOI decision on Universal Credit IT?
By Tony Collins Stephen Crabb, the new DWP secretary of state who replaces IDS, has started to make a difference. On 3 April 2016 the Sunday Times reported that Crabb had ordered officials to stop...
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Inside Universal Credit IT – analysis of document the DWP didn’t want published
By Tony Collins Written evidence the Department for Work and Pensions submitted to an FOI tribunal – but did not want published (ever) – reveals that there was an internal “lack of candour and honesty...
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Excellent reports on lessons from Universal Credit IT project published today...
By Tony Collins “People burst into tears, so relieved were they that they could tell someone what was happening.” The Institute for Government has today published one of the most incisive – and...
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