Ongoing digital projects (FOI)

Request

I have the following questions about the digital projects listed on the government's website at:

eGov projects and services 

This is great, it is colourful and easy to read with not too much jargon. It is a great example of openness and transparency, allowing us to hold government to account.

A

I can see from the forms project at the following link that a graph, last updated on 2 July, shows that 130 e-forms are live, 46 are in development and 20 are in the pipeline.  This shows that the forms project is being updated but is the rest of the list of projects up to date?

Forms Platform

B

The list shows that out of 30 projects, three are still in development after several years. What is the current status on those three:

i) design authority

ii) driver and vehicle system (due to be available 'soon')

iii) online planning applications (due to have gone live in Q1 2019)

C

Does the list get updated to include new digital projects? If not, could it be? If it cannot be, why not?

D

Has consideration been given to having a list like this to inform the public about progress on all major projects that government is undertaking? What is preventing such a list being created?

Response

A

The only project that is currently updated on a regular basis is the Forms Platform project, however, we have recently updated data on the remaining projects.

B

These projects have also recently been updated;

i) Design Authority – the original Design Authority project has been completed, it was supported by an external organisation during 2017 to 2018. The Design Authority is now a business-as-usual function, designed as part of the Modernisation and Digital new Target Operating Model. The Design Authority like many capabilities within the new Target Operating Model, is an evolving function and we anticipate it developing further during 2020. We are closing this update.

ii) The Vehicle Registration System (VRS) Replacement project - is currently in delivery phase. The project has encountered a number of challenges. These challenges have largely been resolved and the project has broken down deliverables into Drops (smaller chunks) to secure delivery. Currently, the project is focussed on Drop 1 which is aiming to deliver a base Vehicle Registration System replacement by Quarter 4 2019, this will lead to back office efficiencies.

Once Drop 1 has been delivered, the project will review remaining budget and decide upon the scope for the next Drop, with the sole intention of maximising value to the public. Currently, the project is intending to deliver some self-service functionality in Drop 2 (Quarter 4 2019), including functionality to enable customers to register an imported vehicle online and make payments online.

iii) The Online Planning Applications – this is in soft launch, which is live by invitation only (to our regular architectural customers with digimap licences). This is due to known defects being resolved by a new version currently in test. This should be deployed to live by September 2019, planning to publicly launch by the end of 2019.

C

Currently this list is not updated to include new digital projects, however, we are now considering putting a process in place.

D

At present this is not possible, however, we are considering this with a view to getting a process put in place, in the future.