The Times: Interview - Andrew Pinder, E-envoy
Wired at a slightly lower current: The Government will miss its target for putting all services online by 2005, admits the e-envoy, Andrew Pinder. But what matters, he tells David Rowan, is that sites deliver
Andrew Pinder, Tony Blair's "e-envoy" responsible for taking government services online, has caused rather a stir in recent days. First he accused IT suppliers of lying to the Government over contracts and delivering "incompetent workmanship".
Then, the IT press reported, his department feared that "hundreds" of poorly designed public sector websites could face lawsuits under the Disability Discrimination Act. Cynics might have wondered if Pinder's current high profile was linked with huge recent budget cuts to his department, now downgraded to a "small unit".
In his office just behind Victoria station in London, Pinder is on fighting form.
He has a far bigger budget than when appointed in 2001, he points out: almost £15 million and 140 staff, plus an £11 million anti-terrorism fund, up from £10 million and 70 staff. "I'm still the largest single unit in the Cabinet Office," he insists. So what of the rumours that he will leave before his contract ends next April? He smiles. "I think it's up to other people if I last my full contract, but I'm planning my holidays on the basis that I will be here."
Pinder acknowledges that his reforming zeal may have annoyed a few Luddites who wish to spin against him. As he works to fulfil the Prime Minister's pledge that all government services will be available online by 2005, he has clearly had to bang heads together.
So how are things going? "Very mixed, really," he admits. "There are some brilliant offerings available -the JobCentre Plus site, where people can find virtually every job in the country, and the Foreign Office site's travel information. But there are an awful lot of other sites which are very little used.
The public sector needs to understand we're about providing access based on our customers' needs -not those which Government sees as important."
The next big project is a website network based around "life events", which links official sites to "respectable" non-government sites -"a department store with a series of franchises", Pinder says. He talks a lot about "customers" and "brands".
Having worked at Citibank and Prudential after 18 years at the Inland Revenue, he knows the language of the private sector.
Will Government meet the 2005 target? "We'll be more or less there -what matters to me is that we get it right," he says. "If 90 per cent of services are achieved, we shouldn't worry about the last few."
Does that mean the 100 per cent target has slipped to 90? "Come on, give me a break," he interjects. "It's about showing Government's taking it seriously. We could have cheated, come up with broad categories, but we listed every service we'd thought of - up to spraying insecticide on motorway ridges. People should prioritise - and what matters is getting sites really usable, and then altering their offerings to match consumer demand. Let's go for the 80:20 rule."
Presumably he means the business notion that 20 per cent of well-organised time will produce 80 per cent of the results, rather than any further loosening of the target. He does not, in fact, believe that government websites will face actions over disability law (they must, for instance, be accessible to the visually impaired).
"Our websites are far more acccessible than the private sector's. But we have a plethora of sites, some put up in a hurry, and people haven't always thought of accessibility."
Of more concern is the "immoral" behaviour of some private sector IT firms working with government. Why does the Government keep getting its IT projects so wrong -Passport Office, National Insurance? Sometimes Government does mess up, he admits, but the private sector, in his 13 years' experience, also makes a mess of things.
Mistakes have happened, he acknowledges. "The danger comes when we fail to understand exactly what we're trying to do. Quite often we put into place a system and change our mind halfway through. We also need to make sure we're dealing with competent suppliers in a well-managed relationship."
His proudest achievement has been "getting this raised right up the agenda", with "e-transaction" a Whitehall buzzword. "Three years ago that wouldn't have happened." He also notes that a project to put 30,000 PCs in 4,300 libraries was on budget and on time.
One final question. Why does the No 10 website still not provide an e-mail address through which citizens may contact the Prime Minister? It is a symbolic step taken long ago by leaders such as George Bush and, ahem, Saddam Hussein.
Pinder's press spokesman steps in. "It all depends how you define 'an e-mail address'," he explains. Sir Humphrey could not have put it better.
(The Times, April 15 2003)
Andrew Pinder, Tony Blair's "e-envoy" responsible for taking government services online, has caused rather a stir in recent days. First he accused IT suppliers of lying to the Government over contracts and delivering "incompetent workmanship".
Then, the IT press reported, his department feared that "hundreds" of poorly designed public sector websites could face lawsuits under the Disability Discrimination Act. Cynics might have wondered if Pinder's current high profile was linked with huge recent budget cuts to his department, now downgraded to a "small unit".
In his office just behind Victoria station in London, Pinder is on fighting form.
He has a far bigger budget than when appointed in 2001, he points out: almost £15 million and 140 staff, plus an £11 million anti-terrorism fund, up from £10 million and 70 staff. "I'm still the largest single unit in the Cabinet Office," he insists. So what of the rumours that he will leave before his contract ends next April? He smiles. "I think it's up to other people if I last my full contract, but I'm planning my holidays on the basis that I will be here."
Pinder acknowledges that his reforming zeal may have annoyed a few Luddites who wish to spin against him. As he works to fulfil the Prime Minister's pledge that all government services will be available online by 2005, he has clearly had to bang heads together.
So how are things going? "Very mixed, really," he admits. "There are some brilliant offerings available -the JobCentre Plus site, where people can find virtually every job in the country, and the Foreign Office site's travel information. But there are an awful lot of other sites which are very little used.
The public sector needs to understand we're about providing access based on our customers' needs -not those which Government sees as important."
The next big project is a website network based around "life events", which links official sites to "respectable" non-government sites -"a department store with a series of franchises", Pinder says. He talks a lot about "customers" and "brands".
Having worked at Citibank and Prudential after 18 years at the Inland Revenue, he knows the language of the private sector.
Will Government meet the 2005 target? "We'll be more or less there -what matters to me is that we get it right," he says. "If 90 per cent of services are achieved, we shouldn't worry about the last few."
Does that mean the 100 per cent target has slipped to 90? "Come on, give me a break," he interjects. "It's about showing Government's taking it seriously. We could have cheated, come up with broad categories, but we listed every service we'd thought of - up to spraying insecticide on motorway ridges. People should prioritise - and what matters is getting sites really usable, and then altering their offerings to match consumer demand. Let's go for the 80:20 rule."
Presumably he means the business notion that 20 per cent of well-organised time will produce 80 per cent of the results, rather than any further loosening of the target. He does not, in fact, believe that government websites will face actions over disability law (they must, for instance, be accessible to the visually impaired).
"Our websites are far more acccessible than the private sector's. But we have a plethora of sites, some put up in a hurry, and people haven't always thought of accessibility."
Of more concern is the "immoral" behaviour of some private sector IT firms working with government. Why does the Government keep getting its IT projects so wrong -Passport Office, National Insurance? Sometimes Government does mess up, he admits, but the private sector, in his 13 years' experience, also makes a mess of things.
Mistakes have happened, he acknowledges. "The danger comes when we fail to understand exactly what we're trying to do. Quite often we put into place a system and change our mind halfway through. We also need to make sure we're dealing with competent suppliers in a well-managed relationship."
His proudest achievement has been "getting this raised right up the agenda", with "e-transaction" a Whitehall buzzword. "Three years ago that wouldn't have happened." He also notes that a project to put 30,000 PCs in 4,300 libraries was on budget and on time.
One final question. Why does the No 10 website still not provide an e-mail address through which citizens may contact the Prime Minister? It is a symbolic step taken long ago by leaders such as George Bush and, ahem, Saddam Hussein.
Pinder's press spokesman steps in. "It all depends how you define 'an e-mail address'," he explains. Sir Humphrey could not have put it better.
(The Times, April 15 2003)
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