Digital Jersey say e-Gov project stall is “deeply disappointing”

Thursday 26 February 2015

The States-funded tech agency has labelled the stall of the government’s flagship e-Gov project as “deeply disappointing”.

It has been revealed that the £7 million project has stalled, after the deadline for the key contract to be awarded was missed, and now other deadlines are in question too.

Treasury Minister Alan Maclean has underlined his commitment to e-Gov as a key way to make the States more efficient and to make it easier for the public to do basic things like file taxes, change their addresses for government services and apply for Planning permission.

And Paul Masterton, the chair of Digital Jersey, says that it is essential that the project goes ahead.

He said: “The development of eGov is absolutely vital for Jersey to reform and improve the way government works and to reduce the cost of service delivery; it is nothing less than the mechanism to reset the social contract between citizens and government.

“We, and the industry as a whole, are deeply disappointed that the eGov activity has been paused for review and redirection.

“While the motivation behind this decision is understandable, it is important that this break in activity be as short as possible to ensure that momentum is not lost.

“We call on government to publish a timetable with clear 2015 deliverables to ensure that the programme of work continues.

“Over the last year our industry has committed significant amounts of resource to a series of consultations and activities to support this programme, work that has delivered a clear vision and structure for e-government in Jersey. It is essential that this hard work is not lost.”