2.10 The Committee of Public Accounts noted that successfully implementing the Strategy relied on it being adopted by government and its ICT suppliers.
2.11 Neither the departments and agencies or the ICT suppliers we interviewed identified any significant gaps in the Strategy. Departments and agencies support the rationale for the Strategy, as it will help them to meet ICT cost and staff reduction targets. The Strategy has a sufficiently wide scope to meet their needs to simplify ICT, use common infrastructure and ultimately move to shared service management. ICT suppliers said they agreed with the technical direction of the Strategy and that it aligned with current developments in the ICT industry. They recognised that the Strategy made sense in the current climate to reduce costs in government. Their concern, however, was that short-term financial pressure conflicted with the need for the longer-term reform of public services.
2.12 Senior managers in central government and the ICT industry were willing to align their strategies for ICT with new cross-government solutions and standards. However, all considered they needed more detail on the plans to implement the Strategy. Departments and agencies not represented on the Board were uncertain about exactly what they had to do and the timing of actions. Their primary channel for communication, the CIO Council, had met only once during the first six months of the Strategy. Senior managers in central government told us that they had plans for new ICT contracts in case the common solutions developed for the Strategy were not available in time. Suppliers were cautious about investing in new products and services because of government's poor progress in implementing previous ICT strategies.
2.13 Government and ICT suppliers are seeking to engage on the Strategy. Twenty-three working groups have been established to support the delivery projects. Local government, devolved administrations, the Fire and Rescue Service, Intellect (trade association for the UK technology sector), and the British Computer Society are members of these groups. Government organisations are also participating by responding to consultations, requests for data or as volunteers for pilot projects. A number of suppliers have offered to support government in developing its thinking and help accelerate the pace of change in ICT in government.
2.14 The culture change required to implement the Strategy may be a significant barrier. The Cabinet Office has limited resources to engage with stakeholders but it is organising joint government and industry events. For example, on 21 November 2011, the Cabinet Office provided a snapshot of future potential contracting opportunities and explained how a new approach to supply chain management will help small businesses engage more effectively in the public market.
2.15 The Cabinet Office needs a communication plan that matches the ambition of this change programme. The delivery areas are at different stages of creating their own communications plans, and, as a result, the Cabinet Office has only recently begun to develop and coordinate central high-level communications.
2.16 The Cabinet Office started to design material to communicate the aims and benefits of the Strategy across government in a non-technical way. However, none of the staff in departments and agencies we interviewed were aware of the material. Unless senior civil servants, who are not ICT professionals, understand what is required from their organisations and the advantages of collaborating, change will be slow.