States must prove it can make IT work

So good, the only real question is why it has taken the States so long to get started.

The president of Policy & Resources says as much in the committee’s supporting statement for the Billet. ‘There has been talk about combining the collection of tax and social security for years. Now we are finally getting on with it.’

The aim is to make life easier for both government and islander. Paying into one system rather than two should simplify the task, cut out wasteful inter-department duplication, speed up payments and refunds and, crucially, save the taxpayer millions.

There is only one reason to hesitate before pressing the go button: this is a major IT project, to be run by the States.

Historically, the States’ record on IT projects has been woeful. The centralisation of bill-paying through SAP was one recent example and a long and painful experience for both staff and ‘customers’.

But it was as nothing compared to some health IT projects. After a decade, the Electronic Health and Social Care Record System, for example, had neither fully delivered on its objectives or brought about the promised savings.

Burnt fingers should not, however, prevent the States from grasping this particular opportunity.

Faced with a choice of sticking with two archaic, inflexible, failing computer systems or shifting to one modern design that will save money and provide better information for policy-making it is as close to a no-brainer as it gets in politics.

The States says that lessons have been learned from past IT disasters.

Perhaps they are right.

After all, the States finally found a way to bring in major infrastructure construction projects on budget and on time after decades of overspends.

If the tax/social security project can be successfully implemented it will go down as a major feather in the cap of this Assembly.

And with just two years to go, and not much to show for it, this States could do with as many of those as possible.