Today, former members of the disbanded "Information Age Government Group" met to consider the detailed remit, governance and relationships for its replacement, with the short paper agreed by Policy Development that was agreed by the Board as its starting point. The name for the new Group was agreed as "Socitm Futures". The minutes of the meeting will be published in full in the Members' Area of the Socitm web-site. (Incidentally, the minutes of the last Board Meeting will be published today.)

The detailed terms of reference for the Group will be written-up and published shortly.

Having decided on how the Group will operate, we turned our attention to the initial areas for policy development. The highest priorities were considered to be data security, societal engagement through ICT and Green IT, but the full list of initial topics is as follows. Further suggestions from members will be welcomed.

• Information Assurance/Governance and Compliance The role of Local Government - Support for the well-being agenda.
• MSA (Mapping Services Agreement) and associated topics.
• Shared Services front/back office + governance/compliance/procurement etc.
• LAA issues - Guidance good practice etc.
  Information Sharing
• Green ICT + Sustainability
• Remote/mobile/flexible/home working
• Public Sector Network interconnects (GCSx/GSI/CJIT/N3/PNN etc) Identity Management and Authentication (Employees and Citizens) Resilience & Continuity.

I chaired today's meeting, but it was agreed that those present would continue to serve on the Group and Glyn Evans (who previously chaired SIAG) would chair future meetings pending confirmation by the National Advisory Council, which I now need to arrange. I will shortly be writing to invite all nominees for NAC membership to its first meeting (ensuring all Socitm regions and public sector constituencies are represented) to its first meeting. In view of the fact that we're now getting into the holiday period, I plan to make this the end of summer – 23rd September is the date I have in-mind.

There was some discussion of why Socitm should articulate policies, and agreement that this is essential to provide clear direction and advice to our membership. The fact that the Society has been extremely active in developing the Information Assurance process, with Government, for four years, but has not developed its own policy, for me, illustrates the requirement. We must capitalise on all this research and experience to develop policy on behalf of our membership, starting out with the sort of Vision and commitments I described in my 4th June blog.

Our activity in this area also serves to illustrate the amount of good work that Socitm undertakes "in the background" – although I think we need to publicise this more! Socitm through SIAG joined the Cabinet Office GIPSI (General Information Assurance Products and Services Group) - a pan-Government Cabinet Office Security group.

This group has become the National Information Assurance Forum see:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/csia/niaf.aspx

NIAF has been involved in the drafting of the National Information Assurance Strategy: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/csia/national_ia_strategy.aspx which has a Local Government delivery approach, drafted after detailed work and consultation with Socitm.

The Data handling review: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/statements/071123_data.aspx has involved Socitm through the LGA (Local Government Association) to work on producing a set of Data Handling guidelines for Local Authorities; these will be published by the end of the summer. We have also been involved with the Department of Health (DoH) working on producing an integrated version of the Information Governance toolkit, The DoH are also reviewing their information strategy around adult social care. Socitm is involved in the work of that group: https://govx.socitm.gov.uk/spaces/igtoolkit/

We continue to support the National Local Authority Warning, Advice and Reporting Point programme: www.nlawarp.gov.uk which is now helping pull all of this work together.

US Independence Day – or rather the date of adoption of the text of the declaration, as I learned on my recent trip; the declaration was actually made on 8th July.


I heard, today, that my blog was recently nominated in the 2008 ComputerWeekly.com IT Blog Awards by a ComputerWeekly.com reader. "All nominated blogs have now been considered by our panel of judges and I am delighted to inform you that CIO Blog has made the shortlist in the CIO/IT Director category." After having looked at my fellow nominees' blogs, I have to admit that most of them have rather more imaginative titles than mine, but don't be seduced by such superficial presentation, vote, in the "CIO & IT Director Blogs" category, for the "CIO Blog at ComputerWorld UK" via the following link… http://www.computerweekly.com/blogawards.htm


This morning fellow Socitm Director, Steve Palmer, and I had discussions about previously identified partnership opportunities with the NCC's (National Computing Centre's) CEO - Steve Markwell, Accredit UK Project Director -Vaughan Shaylor and Group Marketing Manager - Michael Dean.

The Accredit UK scheme provides professional ICT development for small businesses. The NCC would like to partner with Socitm to promote the scheme and negotiate appropriate exemptions from public sector procurement procedures for businesses that have obtained relevant qualification through the scheme. I undertook to set-up a further meeting with the DCLG (Department for Communities & Local Government) and with someone from the Digital Inclusion Team, as bureaucratic challenges and engagement with ICT can often be among the issues that small businesses have to contend with. In the meantime, Socitm has been offered a place on the Accredit UK Advisory Board, and I have promised Socitm's help in promoting the scheme.

There appear to be opportunities for Socitm Consulting and Training services to contribute skills to support NCC membership development packages, and for them to become part of the Accredit UK third-party assessment community. A follow-up meeting is being arranged with Socitm Consulting management.

We had a lengthy discussion about how to jointly develop our professionalism services, particularly in support of the Government IT Profession and the ICT competency needs of business, as well as the ICT service. We concluded that we should set-up a workshop with wider stakeholders to agree the approach. This may map onto "Profit Alliance" developments, but should include other public sector representation. This is to be planned for around the end of September.

Last, but not least, there may be possibilities for sharing administration systems and services, and I'm asking Adrian to discuss these with Michael before we commit ourselves to new systems that are under consideration.


After lunch, I met with Sean Harney, Newham's Orange Account Manager – both to brief him on the Newham Telecommunications Convergence project, and to discuss Socitm's planned consultation with private sector colleagues on partnering package developments.


I also attended Newham ICT's Monthly Team Talk to hear Michael Irvine, Newham Homes' CEO, presenting on the company's plans to achieve a three-star rating, and how ICT can help.


Since becoming Socitm President, I've been really pleased to receive quite a few messages of congratulation and support, but I thought the following extract from a note received from Fahri Zihni, a previous Socitm President (now at Aston University) worth mentioning…

"In my personal view, information and communications technology is without a shadow of doubt, one of the greatest miracles of human ingenuity which among all the well publicised ills associated with it, has made and will continue to make, the world a better place by helping deliver education, know-how and prosperity across the globe. So we should be more than proud to be a part of the ICT profession."

That seemed to me a pretty good rallying call for our profession, and also signals the sort of continuing aspiration that Socitm can support – and here I am thinking, particularly, of how we can now engage in tackling social exclusion and combating social injustice through our use of ICT.


Have a great weekend!

Last night I stayed in Hull, and was able to continue getting up-to-date with correspondence, using the hotel's Internet, in the evening and this morning. I then spent a good part of today driving to the National School of Government, at Sunningdale Park, in Ascot, where a Local Government CIO Council is being held tomorrow, starting with a reception and dinner, this evening.


Yesterday, colleagues from Socitm met with Dane Wright, from Brent Council, to discuss taking-on its "e-Government Register" (which, as I previously mentioned, was demonstrated to the last Socitm London Branch meeting) with the aim of migrating our Supplier Index to it. The meeting went well, but there's a fair bit of work to do, so the transition will likely take place over the next year, co-ordinated by a joint board. Steve Pennant offered support from London Connects.


The Public Sector Infrastructure Team met today, but I again missed the meeting. It's currently doing interesting work on Data Centres, Unified Communications, Data Transfer and Public Sector Network, but I am still unclear of the strategic context and fit with other Government Work-Groups, so I'm suggesting a meeting of any Socitm members who are involved in any of the Government Teams to see if we can clarify the relationships.

Jos Creese was confirmed as the chair of the LG CiO Council meeting, which met today. Its minutes will be published in the public area of the Socitm web-site, so I am not going to try and report, in detail, the meeting here. However, there are a few points that I'd like highlight. The first is our determination to be as open as possible about the work we do. It does often seem that Government work on ICT and transformation is its best kept secret, with minutes and reports marked "not for circulation" or otherwise restricted. We want to ensure that Local Government is well informed of developments and able to confidently support and engage in transformational government initiatives.

Paul Davidson, who chairs the "Local Government Reference Group to the Chief Technology Officer Council", came along to describe its work. Essentially, its relationship to the National CTO Council is the same as ours' to the CIO Council. There was a lot of discussion about the various ICT transformation working groups, and we agreed to map the groups, their terms of reference and the local government representative involvement, ensure there is no duplication, and that we have effective representation in all areas. This will also be published on the Socitm web-site.

Two weeks ago, Philip Littleavon, the Government Connect Programme Director, gave Socitm and other stakeholders the opportunity to comment on planned policy announcements on the Government Connect role in Data Handling procedures, which have been developed partly in response to publication of the Hannigan Report, and which will confirm the intended pivotal role of Government Connect in securely processing Government Client information. I wrote expressing reservations, given GC's "long and chequered history", about what now seemed a precipitous move, while supporting the aims of quickly turning the situation around and achieving real benefits - and invited Philip to discuss the proposals with us at today's meeting. He wasn't able to attend personally, but Simon Norbury came along to explain and discuss the plans with us. I have to say that Simon gave the most comprehensive and cohesive explanation of the strategy that I've heard to date. Our feedback was essentially a plea to ensure that communication of the policy to Councils is as effective and well-targeted. (Mark Brett has just delivered a survey of Local Authorities, commissioned by GC, of the help and support that Local Authorities who have not yet engaged in Government Connect, require to do so.)

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2220346/office-eco-apathy-threatening I thought this story a little dispiriting. I have no great claim to green credentials (I drive a TVR, for heaven's sake!) However, it doesn't take a great deal of effort to adopt green standards that, for the most part, are consistent with efficiency and best practice. Successful society has to be built upon individuals' acceptance of personal responsibility for their actions, rather than "it's someone else's problem".


Today I attended a Socitm Police Group meeting at the Humberside Police Headquarters in Hull. This has only recently become fully operational again following last year's flooding. Many of the people based there are still repairing the damage to their homes, and some haven't yet been able to return home.

The morning was concerned with presentation by representatives of the NPIA (National Policing Improvement Agency), and discussion of, the Gateway process for key-stage project reviews developed by the OGC (Office for Government Commerce) as now being rolled-out through the OGC accredited Police hub. (There are three others, for Health, the Ministry of Defence & Local Government.) Ann Middleton, from the Metropolitan Police, who chairs the Group, commented to the effect that the Gate Five Review process – benefits realisation – could be adapted to review systems already implemented, which I strongly agreed with. Whilst the Gateway Review process was borne from the desire (and need) to avoid the sort of project failures that have gained high media profile, and rightly so, it's still the case that many already implemented systems are used extremely ineffectively, but that doesn't grab the headlines the way big budget project cancellations and failures do!

I undertook to raise Socitm engagement with the Gateway Process – initially at next week's Socitm Futures meeting. It's clearly quite closely aligned with our theme around business engagement/ business efficiency and the need to partner with business to ensure effective exploitation of ICT infrastructure. I'm also interested in the "banking" system originally adopted to support the Review process – whereby Central Government Department's provided personnel to be trained-in and undertake reviews, which roughly equated to the value they received from being the beneficiaries of reviews. It's an approach that the Microsoft Shared Learning Group has also being trying to get off the ground.


After lunch, I outlined Socitm developments and ambitions. As we have set ourselves a target of developing the Society to represent all who work in IT in the Public and Third Sectors, I am particularly keen to get feedback from sectors that are not in the Society's Local Government roots – like Police. I'm glad to say that most of the comments confirmed issues that have already been identified and are either being addressed, or in the pipeline, and there was agreement that we are moving in the right direction. Some of the issues concerned demands on time and the competiveness of our environment,, sector-specific collateral, professional development and the SFIA framework (Skills Framework for the Information Age) – I spoke about our plan to launch a service based on the Aspire packaged software supporting SFIA, developed by Leeds City Council, in September – and continuity of support. Socitm had let the Police Group down, in concerning that last issue, following the retirement of its former national secretary, and I assured the Group of the Board's determination to ensure future continuity of support.