The digital centre of government call for evidence response

The IET welcomes the introduction of the digital centre of government, however, proposes steps that the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee should take prior to the centre’s implementation.
The IET recommends:

• Government must outline the duties of the digital centre and assess its benefits and challenges by looking back on previous best practices from Government Digital Services (GDS). Once this has been done, government can then finalise their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• There needs to be a clear, intricately planned and technical strategy for implementing the digital centre, to ensure the delivery is timely, effective, and safe from data vulnerabilities.
• Government should have a strong communications strategy to ensure that it is clear why the digital centre is being introduced, and what centre wants to achieve.
• The digital centre should be led by professionals / experts in business who have experience in digitalisation as they will understand the market, and how to successfully navigate the complexity of digital transformation.

Regarding the ‘kickstarter’ tests and programmes, the IET fully supports the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology collaborating with organisations across the public sector to support the government’s goal of ‘Get Britain Working’, but has some reservations around the other ‘kickstarter’ tests and programmes which we explore further in our response.