Government Digital Service initiatives feature heavily in newly published departmental single plan
The Cabinet Office has added weight to the efforts of the Government Digital Service (GDS), including its plans among the major features of its departmental plan for the rest of this parliament.
While the document limits direct references to the GDS to single mention – in regard to its work on common standards and cross-government platforms – it highlights a number of initiatives that make clear that the role of digital technology in government is at the core of its thinking.
It confirms the plan to follow up the development of the GOV.UK website with the development of a series of other common platforms for reuse around government, pointing to payments and notifications as the being in the pipepline.
The plan includes references to a general digital direction of travel with mentions of moving more services online, enabling more flexible working, sharing Cabinet Office IT provision with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Crown Commercial Service, and moving shared service providers onto a single platform.
Generalities
There is a more general declaration of strengthening digital, technology and data management in government, but the document is light on specifics as to how this will be done. It also makes reference to the commitment to open data without providing detail on how this will be followed through.
It reiterates the Government's emphasis on the importance of cyber security, pointing to the funding of the successor National Cyber Security Programme to build on the 2010 National Cyber Security Strategy. The business case process for the new programme began in December, determining allocations for other departments, and activity is forecast to begin in April.
On the procurement front, it says the target for SMEs' share of central procurement is being raised to one third.
In a nod to the digital inclusion agenda, the plan says the Cabinet Office aims to ensure digital assistance is always available for people who are not online.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
