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<p>At the time of the last General Election this country was spending more than almost
any other country in the developed world on ICT but the quality of the services and
technology offered to civil servants and to the public was hardly impressive. Departments
were – and in many cases are - burdened with legacy IT equipment which is not appropriate
for a modern workplace. In addition there was a long-standing shortage of digital
skills.</p><p>After the General Election, the Cabinet Office launched the new Government
Digital Service to support departments in digitising public services and to redesign
our online offering to the public.</p><p>Prior to August 2010, £27,000 was spent on
hosting the Cabinet Office site (as well as other agency sites). In August of that
year, we switched to using cloud-based services. For 2012-3, £2623 was spent maintaining
the Cabinet Office website. In February 2013 Cabinet Office joined gov.uk. The creation
of gov.uk saved £42 million in 2012-3 and £50m estimated savings for 2013/2014 for
<a href="http://gov.uk/" target="_blank">GOV.UK</a> from closing down Directgov and
BusinessLink.</p><p>The Capabilities Plan, which is refreshed annually, reports on
digital skills across the Civil Service. The Cabinet Office publishes Quarterly Progress
Reports against the Government Digital Strategy which covers digital capability, as
does the Government Digital Strategy 2013 Annual Report. All of these are readily
available online.</p><p>Prior to 2010 agile methods were not required. The Government
Digital by Default Service Standard requires new or redesigned digital services to
be developed using agile methods. Compliance is ensured through cross-Government IT
spending controls. Prior to the last General Election there was no-cross Government
IT spending controls. These helped saved £500 million for taxpayers in 2012-13 alone,
contributing to an unprecedented £10 billion of efficiency savings in that year. All
of this could have been initiated prior to 2010. There are currently 5 agile coach
positions in Cabinet Office.</p><p>Prior to the last General Election there was no
central monitoring of spend with SMEs. Various bureaucratic procurement practices
mitigated against SMEs and resulted in a playing field which was biased against SMEs.
The Digital Services framework went live in November 2013. 83% of the suppliers are
SMEs. Of the 9 competitions so far awarded 5 have gone to SMEs – this is 30% by value.</p><p>Under
an IT contract signed in 2009, Cabinet Office staff IT costs around £7,000 per user
per annum. We want staff to have IT equipment which actually suits their needs to
allow everyone to work effectively and drive up productivity. As part of that we will
consider giving staff equipment including tablets and mobile devices when there is
an appropriate business need. For further details I refer the Hon Member to HC Deb,
7 March 2013, c1140W.</p><p> </p>
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