7 At the end of the first six months, new arrangements are in place to implement the Strategy. The leadership, governance and compliance mechanisms for delivery are different from those of the past and have the potential to deliver benefits. Government has adopted a pragmatic and collaborative approach and has largely met the first round of the Strategy deadlines. Thirty actions from the Strategy have been rationalised into 19 delivery areas with a more consistent plan about how the new approaches, new standards and common ICT infrastructure will be taken forward.
8 Against this positive backdrop we have some significant concerns:
• Planning - the Strategic Implementation Plan is lacking a resource plan and a map for how and when departments move to the Strategy solutions.
• Capability - establishing a baseline requirement for ICT professional resources across central government has not been carried out, and key immediate skills gaps have not been filled.
• Evaluation - there are no clear criteria for measuring business outcomes.
These concerns can be dealt with but need to be addressed in the short term if they are not to become significant barriers to progress.