The Conservatives are incapable of delivering the modernisation government needs – Jo Platt

Jo Platt MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, responding to Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden’s defence of the Government’s digital record, said:

“With Verify on the verge of collapse and the system for national security vetting now in need of replacement, it is staggering that the Government sees fit to defend its record on digital technology.

“The Conservatives have shown themselves to be absolutely incapable of delivering the modernisation government needs, and as a result they have compromised national security and cost the taxpayer millions. 

“The Government should commit to conducting a comprehensive review of its digital systems and the risks posed by their failure.”

Ends

Notes to Editors:

• Cabinet Office estimates that the length of time taken to complete vetting cases has caused inefficiencies, costing UKSV customers £17 million per year.

• At one point 8,500 files containing personal data attached to cases were unreadable, and while the files were recovered they had to be manually reattached. Also, 93% of automated checks against the Police National Computer failed.

• In May 2018, Cabinet Office began developing a replacement for NSVS. It plans for the replacement to be in place by January 2020.

• The failure of the NSVS comes at the same time as the much publicised failure of Verify, a major platform that is intended to become the standard way for citizens to prove who they are when accessing public services online.

• As of October 2017 only 15 digital services use Verify, with an average of only 46% of people using those services being able to successfully create a verified identity. Of those who do manage to successfully create an ID, 37% on average are then able to access the digital service they want to use.

• This is a far cry from the government’s original 2015 business case which planned for 90% of people being able to verify their identity online “with a 90% success rate by April 2016”.

• The Government has set an ambitious target of 25 million users by 2020 – but only about 1.5 million accounts have been set up so far.

• It has been reported that in July 2018 the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) conducted a review of Verify and found Whitehall departments were reluctant to continue funding the project.