Alistair Thomas

UK

Tax Payer, IT Bod

No wonder there is no leadership or vision in IT terms from this government. You can detail the IT and project experience of this whole group on the back of a postage stamp with room to spare.

Even if you lack the expertise to articulate solutions, you need a certain amount of experience to even ask the right questions let alone have a feel for the integrity of any answers you might get back.

Some of these guys may have clout which will mean that promised monies might get spent, but if they don't know where to spend the money to best effect then all their clout will do is ensure that the maximum amount of taxpayers' money gets wasted in the quickest amount of time.

In Health, and Education certainly and probably in other areas such as police and putting government and other public services online, a common centralised approach is essential to ensure that every site and every user can exchange information freely. We have 150 local authorities in England alone. We simply can't afford 150 different 'solutions' to the same problems.

We have an independent judiciary to ensure that politicians can't meddle. They don't change every 4 years so there is scope to develop real skill, experience (possibly even wisdom) and take a long-term view. Surely there is a case for some central IT expertise along the same grounds. It could be world class given the sums involved. This should be A-political as far as possible or at least representative of all the parties. The players should be chosen for their ability to contribute and not their political affiliation.

With no apparent relevant skills, you could be forgiven for thinking that these nominations are an excuse for fat expense accounts and inflated egos for some of Tony's Cronies.