The public sector has been set targets to co-ordinate service delivery, share services and improve professionalism in a plan published by the Cabinet Office.
Every branch of the public sector has been told to draft a plan for projects that must be completed by July 2007, including sharing customer service centres and back-office functions, such as HR and finance.
A common infrastructure for the public sector will be built and a culture where sharing is politically desirable will be developed.
The ‘Transformational Government Implementation Plan’ will also establish a cabinet committee to set guidelines, and possibly new standards, for data sharing between public sector bodies.
The public sector has been divided into nine areas and shared-services plans need to be drawn up by November this year.
The nine areas are:
Education
Health
Criminal justice
Local government
The Department for Work and Pensions
Defence
HM Revenue & Customs
Multiple agencies
The rest of central government
Local government directors have sounded a note of caution over the plans.
Richard Steel, head of IT and communications at the London Borough of Newham, was part of a group of local government IT directors and chief executives that advised the Cabinet Office.
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“Something that is missing from both papers is any kind of raw data to support the assertion that joining up and sharing is always a good thing,” he said.
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-government
