Sunday 21 July 2013

The old concept of HMRC is worn out

You see Trade's plan is for every person in Ruritania to maintain a personal data store, managed by state-appointed trusted identity providers. That includes both types of person, natural persons and legal persons, i.e. corporations, trusts, and so on. Once these personal data stores are populated, where is the need for the Revenue? A tax farmer app can simply calculate the amount of tax due and make life more convenient for everyone by filing their tax returns for them and direct debiting the money from their bank accounts. It would be naïve of anyone not to see that that is the purpose of a personal data store and that that is also why the Revenue as currently constituted serves no purpose in the digital-by-default new world.
That's what DMossEsq said in his China Syndrome play. Ridiculous of course.

Except that the excellent Dave Birch promptly reported a meeting hosted by Intellect to discuss the possibility of a mobile phone app to make charitable donations and account for Gift Aid at the same time, please see You can take a gift horse to water, but you can’t make it fill out an HMRC declaration.

Certain people are looking for a knockdown argument in favour of personal data stores (PDSs).

"Holding out against PDSs condemns African children to starvation" sounds like a good candidate. Until you examine it.

Compare and contrast Stephan Shakespeare and the European Commission's plans for Public Sector Information (PSI) – "standing in the way of PSI means there will never be a cure for cancer".

Beware.

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Updated 20.3.14

Daily Telegraph:
Did you spot this? Budget gives HMRC power to raid your bank account – like Wonga

... At the back of the Budget book, there’s this chilling paragraph: “The Government will modernise and strengthen HMRC’s debt collection powers to recover financial assets from the bank accounts of debtors who owe over £1,000 of tax” ...
One step further along the road to Estonia.

Updated 10.5.14

Guardian
HMRC to sell taxpayers' financial data
The personal financial data of millions of taxpayers could be sold to private firms under laws being drawn up by HM Revenue & Customs in a move branded "dangerous" by tax professionals and "borderline insane" by a senior Conservative MP.
Telegraph
David Cameron: Taxes will rise unless we can raid bank accounts
Taxes will have to rise unless officials are given new powers to raid people's bank accounts, David Cameron has said.

The Treasury select committee warned that allowing HM Revenue and Customs to remove cash from bank accounts without court orders is "very concerning" because of its history of mistakes.
Posted by David Moss at 17:05 0 comments

The old concept of HMRC is worn out

You see Trade's plan is for every person in Ruritania to maintain a personal data store, managed by state-appointed trusted identity providers. That includes both types of person, natural persons and legal persons, i.e. corporations, trusts, and so on. Once these personal data stores are populated, where is the need for the Revenue? A tax farmer app can simply calculate the amount of tax due and make life more convenient for everyone by filing their tax returns for them and direct debiting the money from their bank accounts. It would be naïve of anyone not to see that that is the purpose of a personal data store and that that is also why the Revenue as currently constituted serves no purpose in the digital-by-default new world.
That's what DMossEsq said in his China Syndrome play. Ridiculous of course.

Except that the excellent Dave Birch promptly reported a meeting hosted by Intellect to discuss the possibility of a mobile phone app to make charitable donations and account for Gift Aid at the same time, please see You can take a gift horse to water, but you can’t make it fill out an HMRC declaration.

Certain people are looking for a knockdown argument in favour of personal data stores (PDSs).

"Holding out against PDSs condemns African children to starvation" sounds like a good candidate. Until you examine it.

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Posted by David Moss at 17:05 0 comments

Is gravity old-fashioned now?

Many people are saying the same thing but none, perhaps, as eminent as Professor Sir John Beddington CMG, FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government and Head of the Government Office for Science:
Blurring of public and private identities:
People are now more willing to place personal information into public domains, such as on the internet, and attitudes towards privacy are changing, especially among younger people. These changes are blurring the boundaries between social and work identities. The advent of widespread mobile technology and email enables more people to remain connected to their work out of hours. At the same time, posting mobile phone photographs and videos online has led to a cultural shift where many people broadcast their daily lives and experiences, ceding control over some aspects of identity to others with potentially serious consequences for later life. (p.2)
Sir John doesn't say that the concept of privacy itself is changing.

But other people do, see for example The changing definition of privacy, 'Like' it or not, privacy has changed in the Facebook age, Privacy in a changing society, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg says privacy is no longer a 'social norm' and The concept of privacy is now impossible to sustain.

Which is odd because, think about it, when first balloons and then aeroplanes started to fly, no-one said that the concept of gravity had changed.

Beware salesmen telling you that the concept of privacy has changed and you're past your sell-by date if you don't know it, these days anything goes. They're wrong. The concept of privacy is staying right where it's always been and its strictures still apply.

What the Chief Scientific Adviser is saying is that the attitude to privacy is changing. He's wrong, too. As those who give up their privacy will find when the old-fashioned concept of regret overtakes them.
Posted by David Moss at 16:40 0 comments

Is gravity old-fashioned now?

Many people are saying the same thing but none, perhaps, as eminent as Professor Sir John Beddington CMG, FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government and Head of the Government Office for Science:
Blurring of public and private identities:
People are now more willing to place personal information into public domains, such as on the internet, and attitudes towards privacy are changing, especially among younger people. These changes are blurring the boundaries between social and work identities. The advent of widespread mobile technology and email enables more people to remain connected to their work out of hours. At the same time, posting mobile phone photographs and videos online has led to a cultural shift where many people broadcast their daily lives and experiences, ceding control over some aspects of identity to others with potentially serious consequences for later life. (p.2)
Sir John doesn't say that the concept of privacy itself is changing.

But other people do, see for example The changing definition of privacy, 'Like' it or not, privacy has changed in the Facebook age, Privacy in a changing society, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg says privacy is no longer a 'social norm' and The concept of privacy is now impossible to sustain.

Which is odd because, think about it, when first balloons and then aeroplanes started to fly, no-one said that the concept of gravity had changed.

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Posted by David Moss at 16:40 0 comments

Saturday 20 July 2013

UC and the missing £300 million

Hat tip: @Welfare__Reform

The things they say on Twitter!

Universal Credit dead? Surely not.

£300 million down the drain? No. No public administration could waste that much money. Could they?

C.f. 10 December 2012: Universal Credit – GDS's part in its downfall















Posted by David Moss at 01:22 0 comments

UC and the missing £300 million

Hat tip: @Welfare__Reform

The things they say on Twitter!

Universal Credit dead? Surely not.

£300 million down the drain? No. No public administration could waste that much money. Could they?

C.f. 10 December 2012: Universal Credit – GDS's part in its downfall

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Posted by David Moss at 01:22 0 comments

Friday 19 July 2013

GDS – an open and shut case

The case
Ex-Guardian man Mike Bracken's Government Digital Service (GDS) is "pivoting", he says.

First GDS pioneered the concept of governments publishing data by creating the award-winning GOV.UK website. Now GDS is "pivoting", which means that it's moving on from mere publishing and it's going to pioneer two-way communication with the mob, the mobile vulgus, who are going to be allowed to undertake on-line transactions in the digital-by-default new world.

There are about 650 types of transaction between government and the public, according to GDS, and they've chosen 25 of them for starters. "Exemplars", as they call them, GDS will show the rest of the world how to do it.

We’ve started work on redesigning 25 of the biggest and most-used transactional public services – we call them exemplars, leading the way for others to follow.
There's no telling what ye Mighty think about GDS's first attempts at transactions but four professors who reviewed the Government Digital Strategy were left less than optimistic:
It is impossible with the detail provided to form any reasonable view of how this key activity [service transformation] will be performed. Similarly in Annex 3 the proposed transactional service standard is outlined. Again, in the few pages provided there is far too little to make any assessment ... (p.5)

[on the subject of (a) open source and (b) web platforms, as alternatives to the current practice of using ponderous and expensive IT contractors] ... we would strongly argue that neither case offers a direct, clear model that applies to this UK Government context: A technologically-diverse, long-lived set of transactional services to be executed in a complex cultural, political, and regulatory environment. How the lessons of these alternative models can be brought to bear on the current UK Government’s IT systems is a core question that the [Government Digital Strategy] must address, but right now it has little meaningful to say. The [Government Digital Strategy] must avoid falling into the trap of an overly-simplistic response that one approach is poor and the other is better. (p.6)
And a fifth professor gave evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, who are keeping an eye on Whitehall's digital-by-default project, to the effect that GDS are wasting their time. Despite "heroic" amounts of testing, they won't know if their transaction systems work, it's impossible to measure the quality of software systems unless you use formal methods, and GDS don't.

Open
Undismayed, GDS are pressing ahead. "Onwards", as ex-Guardian man Mike Bracken always says. What's more, everything is out in the open:
People are seeing the live, working software that’s already making government services Digital by Default.

We are running this programme of continual iteration in the open. You can follow our progress at www.gov.uk/transformation, where we’re regularly publishing information about every exemplar. You’ll see performance data, screenshots and status reports of where each service is at, and we’re going to add more to it as each service progresses ...

Reporting in public
It’s important that we continue to publish these updates in public, that we report on the services we’re transforming, and that we blog about our progress. Publishing this means more of our colleagues can see what’s happening and what part they play in the process. It’s also the best way to make sure that we’re accountable for the things we build. As our design principles say, if we make things open, we make things better.
Shut
Take a look at https://www.gov.uk/transformation. Exemplar #1 is Electoral Registration – "rebuilding trust in our electoral system and making voter registration more convenient and secure".

Making things open makes them better. It's all about accountability. Click on the link, and what do you find?

"Live, working software that’s already making government services Digital by Default"? No.

"Performance data"? No.

"Screen shots"? No.

Dig a little deeper, click on "our original strategy statement", and you find:
To support IER [Individual Electoral Registration] and make it simpler for users, a new digital channel will be created and a method for confirming identities will be introduced.
What "new digital channel"? They don't tell us.

What "new method for confirming identities"? They don't tell us.

Will voter registration be more "convenient" and more "secure"? Who knows?

Will trust in our electoral system be "rebuilt"? An important question. And GDS aren't helping us to answer it.

For an organisation dedicated to openness and accountability, GDS are remarkably tight-lipped.

The next general election in the UK is round the corner and we're relying on GDS to provide the electoral register. Why?

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Updated 24 July 2013
The post above was published last Friday, 19 July 2013.

The day before yesterday, Monday 22 July 2013, the following comment (#42377) was submitted on ex-Guardian man Mike Bracken's post, The pivot: from publishing to transactions. The comment has been deleted. There have been no answers from GDS by way of response:
What GDS say
GDS say in the post above that: “People are seeing the live, working software that’s already making government services Digital by Default … We are running this programme of continual iteration in the open. You can follow our progress athttp://www.gov.uk/transformation, where we’re regularly publishing information about every exemplar. You’ll see performance data, screenshots and status reports of where each service is at, and we’re going to add more to it as each service progresses”.

Under the heading ‘Reporting In Public’, GDS add: “It’s important that we continue to publish these updates in public, that we report on the services we’re transforming, and that we blog about our progress. Publishing this means more of our colleagues can see what’s happening and what part they play in the process. It’s also the best way to make sure that we’re accountable for the things we build. As our design principles say, if we make things open, we make things better”.

What GDS do
Take a look at https://www.gov.uk/transformation. Exemplar #1 is Electoral Registration – “rebuilding trust in our electoral system and making voter registration more convenient and secure”. What do you find?

“Live, working software that’s already making government services Digital by Default”? No.

“Performance data”? No.

“Screen shots”? No.

Dig a little deeper, click on “our original strategy statement”, and you read: “To support IER and make it simpler for users, a new digital channel will be created and a method for confirming identities will be introduced”.

What “new digital channel”? GDS don’t tell us.

What “new method for confirming identities”? GDSdon’t tell us.

Will voter registration be more “convenient” and more “secure”? Who knows?

Will trust in our electoral system be “rebuilt”? An important question. And GDS aren't helping us to answer it.

For an organisation dedicated to openness and accountability, GDS are remarkably tight-lipped.

22/07/2013

Reply

Updated 27 July 2013
The following comment (#42539) was today submitted on ex-Guardian man Mike Bracken's post, The pivot: from publishing to transactions:
dmossesq #

Please Note: Your comment is awaiting moderation.

QUOTE
People are seeing the live, working software that’s already making government services Digital by Default … We are running this programme of continual iteration in the open.
UNQUOTE

GDS may believe this but it is simply not true, please see GDS – an open and shut case.

The behaviour of GDS, which describes its 25 transactions as “exemplars”, needs itself to be exemplary.

27/07/2013
Posted by David Moss at 16:48 0 comments

GDS – an open and shut case

The case
Ex-Guardian man Mike Bracken's Government Digital Service (GDS) is "pivoting", he says.

First GDS pioneered the concept of governments publishing data by creating the award-winning GOV.UK website. Now GDS is "pivoting", which means that it's moving on from mere publishing and it's going to pioneer two-way communication with the mob, the mobile vulgus, who are going to be allowed to undertake on-line transactions in the digital-by-default new world.

more ►
Posted by David Moss at 16:48 2 comments

Tuesday 16 July 2013

IPS temporarily Rapsonless

The Identity & Passport Service (IPS) doesn't exist any more, of course, it's now HM Passport Office (HMPO) and the Home Office is IPSless.

The executive director of IPS between about June 2010 and March 2013 was Sarah Rapson. Her predecessor, James Hall, presided over the British public being over-charged for passports by about £300 million a year. He also presided over the disaster of Whitehall's attempted introduction of state-produced ID cards.

Ms Rapson has delivered a £5 reduction in the cost of a 10-year adult passport since then, from £77.50 to £72.50. Otherwise her tenure seems to have been without incident.

She is perhaps lucky that IPS/HMPO were banned from having anything to do with Whitehall's latest attempt to re-enact the ID cards massacre – that honour goes to the Cabinet Office (individual electoral registration and the Identity Assurance Programme) and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (midata). If you hold futures in either organisation, sell, sell, sell.

Now her luck has broken.

Home Office press release, 16 April 2013:
New interim Directors General appointed

Two interim Directors General have been appointed to lead the new immigration commands in the Home Office that were announced by the Home Secretary on 26 March.

Sarah Rapson will lead UK Visas and Immigration, bringing her experience of managing a successful customer-focused organisation as Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service.

David Wood will lead Immigration Enforcement, drawing on his background with the Metropolitan Police and as Director of Operations for UKBA ...
The history of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) is spectacular and its demise under Rob Whiteman even more so. The Home Office is now UKBAless. It's shattered into three pieces – the UK Border Force, Immigration Enforcement (ambiguous name) and the piece Ms Rapson has picked up, UK Visas and Immigration (UKV&I).

Interim Director General Sarah Rapson gave evidence in front of the Home Affairs Committee on 11 June 2013:



Next day, the Times newspaper reported the session and found themselves with an over-abundance or superfluity or excess or nimiety of scoops. Too many to handle. They settled for Visa system might never be up to job, admits chief.

A month later, the Home Affairs Committee published their report, and they went with Backlogs hit half a million at immigration service. This followed Ms Rapson's revelation that there are 190,000 unresolved immigration cases that her predecessors unfortunately forgot to tell the Committee about.

The Times and the Committee and the BBC could equally well have led with Ms Rapson's management approach – she wants her staff to discover for themselves how to do the job, she doesn't intend to issue "decrees" (16:34:40 to 16:35:44), instead, she's holding "workshops". She has 7,400 staff in 150 countries and an annual budget of £450 million. There's something missing from the concept of leadership there or "command" as Ms Rapson keeps calling it.

Or they could have led with Ms Rapson's repeated claim to have only just started in the job – e.g. "I'm 54 days in" (16:59:43). According to the DMossEsq slide rule, that's nearly eight weeks. Eight weeks in, and she still doesn't know how many categories there are for the cases UKV&I deal with and didn't realise that the category with 190,000 cases in it was new to the Committee. Clearly it takes some time for a new boss to get their feet under the table, but surely eight weeks is long enough to get to grips with some of the basic metrics of the business. If eight weeks isn't long enough, is it ever going to happen?
Posted by David Moss at 16:11 0 comments

IPS temporarily Rapsonless

The Identity & Passport Service (IPS) doesn't exist any more, of course, it's now HM Passport Office (HMPO) and the Home Office is IPSless.

The executive director of IPS between about June 2010 and March 2013 was Sarah Rapson. Her predecessor, James Hall, presided over the British public being over-charged for passports by about £300 million a year. He also presided over the disaster of Whitehall's attempted introduction of state-produced ID cards.

Ms Rapson has delivered a £5 reduction in the cost of a 10-year adult passport since then, from £77.50 to £72.50. Otherwise her tenure seems to have been without incident.

She is perhaps lucky that IPS/HMPO were banned from having anything to do with Whitehall's latest attempt to re-enact the ID cards massacre – that honour goes to the Cabinet Office (individual electoral registration and the Identity Assurance Programme) and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (midata). If you hold futures in either organisation, sell, sell, sell.

Now her luck has broken.

more ►
Posted by David Moss at 16:11 0 comments