Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Out-Law News 2 min. read

Government IT plans need more security information, says Parliamentary committee


Government plans to make more services available online and to use cloud computing to deliver public services need to be clearer on how information will be protected, a House of Commons committee has said.

In March the Government published a two-year information and communications technology (ICT) strategy detailing measures it hopes will reduce waste in the way Government IT operates.

The measures announced included plans to make public services more accessible to the public through a single online portal and to use cloud computing.

A report into ICT in Government by the Public Accounts Committee said the group was concerned by a lack of reference within the strategy to security problems that could arise by making data more openly available.

"The Government has committed to increase the use of new technologies and sharing of information, which rely on the internet," the Public Accounts Committee report said.

"[The Cabinet Office's Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG)] should clarify in its implementation plan how cyber-security will be integrated into its strategy for ICT," the report said.

The Government needs to employ more people with cyber-security skills, the committee said. Cabinet Office officials could not tell the committee how many cyber-security workers the Government employed compared to how many it needed, the committee said.

The US recently said it employed only half the number of online security workers it needed to meet a shortfall in skills, the committee's report said.

The Cabinet Office must ensure that the best Government IT workers are not allowed to leave through voluntary redundancy programmes that are expected to hit the sector, the committee said.

The nine million people in the UK who have never used the internet should not be disadvantaged by Government plans to make public services more accessible online, the Public Accounts Committee's report said.

No2ID, a group that campaigns against Government databases, told OUT-LAW.COM that it believed the Government is planning to build a single online system that the public can use to access public services.

Guy Herbert, the organisation's general secretary, said he had been consulted on some aspects of the proposals for what is being called the 'ID assurance scheme' but remained concerned about how the Government planned to store the public's data.

The scheme would allow the public to log in to a central online hub to use Government services, but the information stored would be kept by private firms, Herbert said.

"[The Government] appear to be suggesting that they will recruit third party providers [to retain the public's personal information]," Herbert said. "Their credentials would be passed on to the relevant Government department and that would give someone access to the related services."

"It seems fraught with all sorts of difficulties in that it does not provide a description of what will be done with the information," Herbert said.

The Government is currently working on a prototype for the ID assurance scheme that could see a system in use from next year, Herbert said.

The system is intended to be initially introduced for tackling benefits before being rolled out to other services, Herbert said.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.