Minister: E-Gov has been "simply not good enough"

Tuesday 14 June 2016

The Minister responsible for the digital sector in Jersey has promised a rapid improvement in digital services.

In a speech entitled ‘Jersey’s Future - Design for Digital’ - Senator Philip Ozouf branded previous efforts to develop 'e-Gov' - which would see far more government services provided simply and efficiently online - as, “...not good enough." He was speaking in front of 240 guests at the Radisson Hotel for the monthly Jersey Chamber of Commerce lunch.

Senator Ozouf said: “We must be under no illusions. The delivery of e-gov has simply not been good enough until now. After years of promise I believe people think we have delivered too little and we have offered too little to show for it. I think the public and local businesses are simply not going to accept a continuation of that. 

“We have seen some improvement but the key test for e-gov is going to be in the delivery and we are already starting to see some signs of improvement. But now is the time to see a revolution, a digitally enhanced public sector with services that are accessible on your smart phones and tablets. 

“I am probably going to get into a little trouble for what I said about e-gov and I don’t want to be at all negative, but I do recognise that we have not seen the desired progress for a variety of different reasons. We can’t change the past but we can change the future.”

Senator Ozouf said a recent visit to eastern Europe had underlined his opinion that Jersey can do so much better, while urging civil servants to take greater risks. 

He said: “On a visit to Estonia I found out that they have really captured the e-gov revolution. They started from almost ground zero, pretty much a blank sheet of paper. They have been able to deliver to a digital economy by providing digital solutions. 

“I think we have to be bolder. We have got a real problem because civil servants get blamed when they make mistakes. We all make mistakes and I make lots of them because I make quite a few decisions. We have to learn from those mistakes and not be part of a blame culture. I absolutely abhor this world where we string up civil servants for making mistakes.

“We need to get our civil servants to understand they can take proper risks in improving our digital world. We are a small jurisdiction with around 100,000 people and therefore we don’t need big, expensive solutions. Is it really that difficult to get a digital improvement for 100,000? Can’t we find a bespoke solution? Well, Estonia is a great example. They are lot bigger than us but they are already well in advance. Let’s build a relationship with Estonia and learn from them. We need to take some risks and stop frightening our civil servants from making mistakes. We have to celebrate some of the great work our civil servants do and allow them to take more risks.”