The Isle of Wight can settle more than the digital ID argument | Computer Weekly

The government’s approach to digital ID has lacked a clear path for building effective policy. A major change was announced without prior framing, modelling, pilots, or a clear explanation of benefits for affected people. The Home Affairs Committee criticizes the Prime Minister’s announcement as rushed, poorly thought through, and lacking a convincing case. The committee also notes a poor track record in government digital transformation, with unclear objectives, unclear costs, and an incomplete roadmap. The report calls for proper policy design: clear objectives, public trust, evidence before scaling, and parliamentary safeguards to prevent function creep. It describes progress as a staircase governed by Parliament.

"The frustration with the government's approach to digital ID has not been the destination but the absence of that path. It announced a major change to how citizens can prove who they are with no prior framing, no modelling, no pilots, and no clear account of how it would help the people it would affect. That is what the committee's report, at its core, is asking the government to fix."

"The committee's verdict is candid. The Prime Minister's announcement last September was, in its words, "rushed, poorly thought through" and "failed to make a convincing case." Public engagement followed the announcement rather than preceding it. The track record of digital transformation in government, the committee notes, is "poor." The objectives have shifted, the costs are unclear, and the roadmap is still being built."

"But the report is not a counsel of despair. Read carefully, it is a constructive manual for how to do policy properly - clear objectives, public trust, evidence before scaling, parliamentary safeguards against function creep and what the committee memorably calls "not a slippery slope, rather a staircase, with progress and direction governed by Parliament.""

"The way to build good digital policy is no mystery. You model it first. You pilot it where it will make people's lives measurably easier. You learn what works, and what doesn't, and then you scale and continue to learn and improve."

Read at ComputerWeekly.com