Workers in Government’s ITLD Set Up to Fail

Workers in Government’s ITLD Set Up to Fail

The fact that civil servants in the Government’s Information Technology department [ITLD] feel that they have been “set up to fail” is a monument to the Government’s mismanagement of the so-called digital transformation that it has presented with great fanfare but which has, in fact, been slow, painful and costly.

Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi said: “The Government has spent around £18Million in the e-government, digital and IT projects – a lot of that on expensive consultants. There has been little to show for it that is anywhere close to the modernisation and transformation that had been promised to people. Instead the consumer has had to suffer broken or inadequate systems that have just simply not been fit for purpose in many respects.

In the process the Government has chosen to under-resource its own ITLD and spend millions elsewhere for little obvious benefit to the public. There are big questions of value for money for the whole project over the last few years. Could the taxpayer not have got greater value for money with a programme of real investment and resourcing of its ITLD?”

The Government insisting that there is no dispute with the particular department simply adds insult to injury given that clearly there have been long-standing disputes over the last 6 years. For the civil service union to say that they cannot continue to deal with the Minister responsible speaks volumes of the handling of the situation but this is ultimately a problem of the Government’s creation, for the way they have treated this department and for the colossal use of public funds. A wholly different approach is what is needed, one which properly supports the department and provides an effective service to the public.

It is obvious that civil servants feel aggrieved given their walk-out on Friday and that there are disputes in respect of responsibilities that are being further eroded from ITLD. Civil servants are right to view those issues as matters of concern not just to workers in the department but as to the quality of the service the public are not enjoying as a result.