Think tank blames civil servants for e-government sloth

Work towards building an electronic government is being thwarted by civil servants, according to a controversial study by think tank, Demos.

The research - which was assisted by ICL and Perri 6 from the University of Strathclyde - indicated that 'joined-up government' could work, but is unlikely to reach its full potential without a fundamental change in public sector ethos.

George Hall, director of corporate affairs at ICL, said: "The government has to maintain the values of the public sector ethos, but this ethos must be supported by a more modern, supportive and flexible management style if the country wants to be in the premier league of modern government in the next millennium.

"The structures remain essentially Victorian, it is like the glasshouse at Kew Gardens - beautiful but you wouldn't repeat it today," he added.

Perri 6 accused government of impatience: "Ministers of course need to demonstrate they have achieved their targets by the time they are reshuffled, but time and time again we see projects that, given more time, a lot more could have been achieved."

Many civil servants suffer from "initiativitis", he claimed, and urged departments to focus on the quality of projects not quantity. Managers in government also find the need to communicate between other departments "a bit girly," he said, adding that managers are suspicious of joined-up government, often seeing it as a ploy to re-allocate budget.

Perri 6 accused local and central government of playing it safe by continually working on projects known to succeed.

"The worst obstacle has to be the culture of 'we're going to have a pilot but it is too important to fail.' In most of the private sector they can say that a pilot was tried, it did not work but we learnt more from a failure than from a dull success, he said.

Perri 6 added: "We know there are political pressures on ministers to show it always works, but if you are saying out of one side of your mouth 'entrepreneurism and innovation,' and from the other, 'don't embarrass me', then the message that comes out is to play it safe."

Diana Leat, research associate at Demos, said government found it hard to relinquish the paternalistic approach.

"It's difficult for the public sector ethos to see that for joined-up government to work, management needs to lose control. It's a new idea to have partners from different departments rather than subordinates," she said.