So I saw something on Twitter about the government’s intention to roll-out the Tell Us Once programme nationally. And then someone asked me what I thought about it…
I think it’s a laudable goal to try to simplify the bureaucracy that citizens experience when dealing with the state in all its guises. However I think TUO is problematic for three reasons:
- It’s not addressing the real issue, namely that the state is too bureaucratic. TUO is a work-around because the state isn’t organised around actual people. It’s sticking plaster that gives an artificial sense of coherence to a flawed system. And everyone knows that papering over the cracks is unsustainable.
- It’s not giving citizens control over their data. It’s channelling data between bits of government and the scope for error is still huge. Accepting that the hideous bureaucracy isn’t going anywhere any time soon, it would be better to make it clear to people who they need to contact with what information and how. Then I can send one email (or better still an RSS feed)* to all the relevant departments and I can be sure that the data they get is accurate and that they actually get it – it’s my data, after all, and I firmly believe that a state employee does not have a role as an intermediary for my data.
- The basic principle of the government sharing data between departments is fraught with problems. At best it’s paternalistic and at worse it’s the stuff of Big Brother nightmares. Sure, our current government might not be organised enough to actually make use of the data shared between departments, but it sets us on a dangerous path in which ultimately any information about me can be shared between departments and quangos – I don’t get a say in who gets what and what they do with it. To some that sounds over-dramatic but there are others who have seen the effects of regimes that do this in their lifetime.
In short, Tell Us Once is a shonky fix for a bigger problem. It does not give individuals control of their own data and it has very scary potential.
*Yes, some people don’t have access to email or RSS (though they are few) but we have to start somewhere.
Tags: civil service, data, local government, public sector, transparency, VRM
October 2, 2009 at 12:34 pm |
HM government needs to do a whole lot better at data management if it wants to build services around citizens. I work for the UK chapter of the Open ID Foundation, and we would like to engage more with public sector bodies who want to innovate in this area.
I agree with your ctiticisms, but it’s good to know that the political will is there to tackle the issues. That’s a start. I know from working in government departments that people will keep working the old way until they’re convinced they aren’t needed.
October 2, 2009 at 2:00 pm |
[...] Tell Us Once goes national « News from a Nerd (tags: vrm data gov20 opengovernment) [...]
October 2, 2009 at 3:53 pm |
“The state is too bureaucratic” compared to what? The position you are coming from in this post does not seem very realistic to me. I can’t think of any organisation I have every interacted with in the public, private or voluntary sector that did not have to ask for me for information more than once – my daughter’s school which is a tiny organisation asks me for my name, address and my daughter’s date of birth every time they interact with me despite the fact that at least one of these cannot possibly change! It’s good to dream, aspire and criticise but surely there has to be some degree of realism and understanding about the complexities of any organisations and processes once they embrace more than a handful of people?
October 2, 2009 at 4:25 pm |
Thanks for your comment theconnectedrepublic.
Tell Us Once is the government’s answer to its own bureaucracy. Even the government thinks it’s too bureaucratic to tell them the same information over and over.
What I’m suggesting is that the way in which we simplify that bureaucracy can either happen by glossing over it (i.e. Tell Us Once) or we can decide to reorganise things around individuals (or even let individuals organise things themselves) so that bureaucracy is lessened but the individual retains control of their data and there’s less scope for the government to abuse it, intentionally or otherwise.
Having worked in the public sector for several years I fully understand the complexities which are not very different from other large organisations as you point out. My aspirations for government may not ’seem very realistic’ to you but fortunately I have ambition for the sector and will carry on hoping for the best
October 2, 2009 at 5:05 pm |
[...] Tell Us Once goes national « News from a Nerd Carrie Bishop's views on Tell Us Once, nice idea, serious caveats (tags: data opengovernment VRM carrie+bishop tellusonce customerexperience) [...]