Chi Onwurah MP has welcomed an independent review of digital government that has been submitted to the Labour Party’s policy review. Chi, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister for digital government commissioned the review in March 2014 to set out clear goals for a digital agenda that will improve services and empower citizens whilst being efficient and cost effective.

Under the guidance of an expert independent advisory board and with contributions from a wide range of stakeholders across the country, the report makes 35 recommendations for transforming digital government to make digital services work for the many.

The report recommends that the next Labour government accept the Tinder Foundation’s digital inclusion conclusions for improving online skills and estimates that this will generate £6 billion per year by the end of the next parliament. It also criticises the current Government’s ad hoc and muddled approach to data, shown by the care.data fiasco, HMRC tax record and numerous other data disasters, and recommends that a comprehensive review into data is established in Government.

Chi Onwurah and the Labour Party will now study the recommendations in detail. Welcoming the report at a launch speech in Camden, Chi Onwurah said:

“This is a comprehensive roadmap for transforming the relationship between government and citizens. We will be studying the recommendations in detail as we continue with our zero-based review process and prepare our manifesto.

“I am delighted the board has put such a strong emphasis on inclusion. Under David Cameron, this Government's attitude towards digital services has been ‘get online or lose out’. The Government Digital Service is a hugely experienced and talented group but Ministers have focused on headline grabbing rather than building more valuable services that can be used by everyone and that help with some of this country’s biggest challenges such as economic growth, planning, housing or health and social care.

"I welcome the board’s recommendation to establish a review of data in Government. The current Government’s approach to data is chaotic. Ed Miliband has said that the presumption should be that everybody will own and have access to their own public sector data[1]. We will build on that with a review that will establish a coherent and ethical approach to the use of data.
 

The next Labour government will be the most digital government ever. We will be seeking to put citizens in control of increasingly digital public services, including data and information usage, particularly in the areas of value creation, consent, trust and privacy. This report helps us understand how technology will change our lives, as well as the opportunities and the challenges that those changes will bring. Only a radical Labour administration in 2015 can bring about a progressive digital government which delivers for the citizen.”