Digital future for public services?

The digital revolution has had a huge impact on almost every aspect of our day-to-day lives, and the pace of change shows no sign of slowing. It is now commonplace to carry out even highly sensitive activities, such as transferring money or paying a bill, online or on smartphones. However, there is one aspect of daily life that remains far less influenced by the digital world: public services. We are still a long way from being able to log into an app with our NHS number and make online appointments, see test results or order repeat prescriptions.

The potential for digital technology to improve the quality and productivity of public services is huge, but largely unexploited. Why? Public sector resistance is part of the answer. Digital innovators we spoke to for IPPR’s recent report, ‘Tech-powered Public Services’, found that resistance is widespread and often linked to fears that new technology will mean job losses, although in fact a change of role is more common than redundancies.

A risk-averse culture, hostility to the private sector and the perception of greater transparency as a threat are also factors. Perhaps most important, though, is a deep technophobia and sense of change fatigue: “We’ve seen it all before and the last load of technology supposed to solve our problems was useless, so why should this be any different?” And given the very poor record of public sector IT projects – from the Passport Agency to the NHS to Universal Credit – this reaction is understandable...

Read on at Ethos Journal

Ethosis aimed at public sector leaders, politicians, academics and policy specialists debating the future of public services today.