Digital by default tops civil service reform agenda

Digital by default public services and policy making empowered by open data, social media and crowdsourcing are at the heart of the coalition government's controversial plans for civil service reforms.

The Civil Service Reform Plan, published today by the Cabinet Office, was warmly received by the e-government community. However the prominence of digital by default may be a mixed blessing - in that there will be no escape when the political heat turns up.

The plan says unequivocally that the civil service "needs to become digital by default, in its skills, its style, how it communicates and how it enables service users to interact with it."

Among the plan's announcements are a promise that complete Government Digital Strategy will be published in December. "In line with this, every department will publish a Digital Strategy for the digital transformation of their publishing and transactional services, with a detailed implementation plan, to be released simultaneously."

The plan also revives a long-dormant ambition for a cross-government management information system. It says that by October 2012 a robust MI system will be in place "enabling departments to be held to account by
their boards, Parliament, the public and the centre of government".

Mike Bracken, head of the Government Digital Service welcomed his central role: "It's a good day for digital in government and I look forward to taking part in the debates that will follow."