It was announced in November that MyGov, which aimed to centralise customer services, had delivered no substantial improvements despite costing at least £18m.
The reasons for the failure, and who was to blame for them, should be known to Policy & Resources and chief executive Boley Smillie within the next six to eight weeks, and will then be shared with other States members and the public.
P&R vice-president Gavin St Pier told the States yesterday that there would be ‘accountability, but not a witch-hunt’ when the findings were clear.
‘This investigation is about establishing the facts and then acting on them,’ he said.
‘Failures in governance, judgement or oversight will be confronted. Where individual responsibility is identified, appropriate action will follow. Systemic issues will be corrected.
‘Our committee understands the desire for immediate conclusions. We desire them as much as anyone else. But this must be done properly. If we do not, or if we act in haste, we risk compounding a miserable situation and exposing the public purse to further costs.’
There are fears at Frossard House of the possibility of legal action by some individuals if they are publicly identified as blameworthy in the MyGov fiasco.
Mr Smillie previously described MyGov as ‘the worst example of waste in the public service’ he had ever seen and could not rule out malfeasance as a reason for it going badly wrong. His investigation into the project has since uncovered numerous other project management failures.
In questions following Deputy St Pier’s latest statement, Deputy Neil Inder wondered how taxpayers could have confidence in promises of stronger controls on projects in the future, given that some of the people involved currently were also involved in previous failures.
But Deputy Tina Bury warned that becoming too preoccupied with naming and shaming individuals could create a blame culture which would discourage people from raising concerns in the future.
When Deputy St Pier announced the almost complete failure of MyGov in the States in November, he also told the Assembly that an attempt to modernise systems at the Revenue Service at a cost of £24m. has made things worse for taxpayers and staff, but there is now more confidence that project can be turned around.
A detailed report on the project, compiled by the new director of operations at the Revenue Service, will be presented to P&R next week.
‘I understand that the analysis is candid, and the position is stark,’ said Deputy St Pier.
‘While new core systems were delivered, some functionality is still incomplete, several integrations remain unresolved, and essential processes continue to rely on manual workarounds.
‘However, the chief executive and his team are confident that the new director is setting out a credible, pragmatic route back to stability, fixing fundamentals, restoring timely processing, and rebuilding confidence with customers and professional advisers.’
Deputy Simon Vermeulen asked for a date by which the years-long problems at the Revenue Service would finally be resolved. Deputy St Pier said he did not know, but undertook to provide States members with a written briefing following the presentation to P&R.
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