Whatever the result of the next General Election, the UK will operate a new kind of government after 2015.
Whoever forms the next government will introduce an early Budget to affirm their commitment to deficit reduction. Even more importantly, they will begin work on a Spending Review which, at its best, would set the course for better public services within affordable budgets in the next Parliament. In all of these discussions, the digital revolution will be front and centre.
The grim fiscal environment is the driver of public service change and innovation. Many parts of the public sector are already reforming themselves in order to provide better services to citizens, and would have done regardless of the financial crisis. The economic landscape however makes such change unavoidable.
The UK will begin the 2015 Parliament with a deficit on public spending of nearly £70 billion (3.8 per cent of GDP) and net debt at over £1.4 trillion (all but 80 per cent of GDP). No government should rest until the deficit is gone and the debt is back at 40 per cent of GDP or below.
Senior Treasury officials have described fiscal consolidation as a game of two halves. Phase one, up to the end of this Parliament, has been achieved using traditional methods such as public sector pay restrictions and pension reforms. Phase two, in the next Parliament, will require deeper thinking and the thorough redesign of services themselves.
The debate on change in the next Parliament has already begun. Speaking for Reform in July, Rt Hon Francis Maude MP emphasised the contribution of digital. He argued that, “As the industrial revolution was built on steel, so the digital revolution is built on data.” For that reason 14,000 datasets have been made available on data.gov.uk.
Speaking for Reform in September, Rt Hon Theresa May MP set out an even wider reform agenda in policing. She argued that, “the need to go on reforming will not end with this Parliament.” She stressed the role of technology including body-worn cameras and smartphone apps. She restated the aim that all police forces should be fully digital by 2016.
What gives me great hope is that the objective of digital government is shared across the major parties. Chi Onwurah MP has led an impressive Digital Government Review for the Opposition. Writing in Reform’s annual journal, she argued that, “Used properly, with proper concern shown for privacy and service design, technology can be a powerful tool and reshape how government and citizens interact with each other. A Labour Government would seek to ensure these new ways of working are supported and the inevitable expansion of digital government is both progressive and delivers for the citizen.”
In addition there are increasing examples of successful implementation on the ground. New medical technologies range from wearable devices to apps to new artificial intelligence. They are already improving the monitoring of health and wellbeing and accelerating diagnosis. Also in Reform’s annual journal, Jack Dromey MP highlights an initiative in Essex in which different agencies share data and, as a result, identify the highest risk perpetrators of domestic violence. We will discuss many more examples at the event today.
The next Parliament should see a coherent reform of public services framed in terms of an improvement in outcomes for individuals and society. Digital government is an essential element of that reform programme.
Andrew Haldenby is director of the independent think tank Reform (www.reform.co.uk)