/Interview/ Q&A: Tom Watson
01/09/2008 | Filed under Discover > Interview
Back in 2003, he was the first MP to start blogging. Now he’s Gordon Brown’s web Tsar. Tom Watson talks about the failures and successes of the government’s online strategy
.net: You’re the Minister for Transformational Government. What does that actually mean?
TW: It’s a rather grand phrase for the drive to wrap government services around the user (or in political language, the citizen). Very often in the past, people had to join government services together themselves – the classic example being how you deal with a bereavement, with more than 40 actions being required before the public sector finally gets the message that a loved one has died.
Gordon Brown is pushing the public sector to keep on raising its game, making services more personal and responsive to the user. Many of your readers will think this is a no-brainer. So do I. But the public sector is big and complex, and achieving the sort of customer focus that the successful online corporates aspire to requires a lot of will and effort across government, co-ordinated by a small team at the heart of the Cabinet Office. The internet will play a key role.
.net: What is the Power of Information taskforce all about? What will the so-called ‘Government 2.0’ look like?
TW: My starting point is that the freer the data, the better. The more access we provide, the wider variety of potential uses we can find.
So the taskforce has two goals. Firstly, and most importantly, I want them to help persuade government of the merits of ‘freeing its data’, allowing taxpayers to access statistics and other information that was gathered on their behalf. I have absolutely no doubt that digital entrepreneurs will be able to find as-yet undiscovered opportunities with mashed-up data.
Secondly, I want the taskforce to help government listen. Engaging with social networks to find insight into how people use government services or civil servants speaking with an authentic, professional online voice will help us serve people better.
That doesn’t mean shadowy civil servants hanging around the Netmums message board, but it might mean midwives advising mums-to-be on the best way to prepare for labour.
If 100,000 mums chose to meet at Wembley Stadium to discuss the best way to bring up their kids then you can bet that civil servants, clinicians, welfare advisers and the like would be there as part of their public service duties. Even politicians would get in on the act. But because they choose to meet online they don’t get nearly enough attention by the people who are employed to make their lives easier. This is going to have to change.
Government 2.0 is a dreadful term but I can’t think of a better one that adequately gets over the point that public services have got to be more personal and responsive to the collective voice of their users and that there’s a very big shift happening in the way people live their lives and use services. The public sector is not immune to this. It goes back to my original point about wrapping services around the user in a form that works for them.
.net: How do you want to turn the report into reality? After all, it affects many different departments and you haven’t got the power to push your ideas through, have you?
TW: I’m quite confident about what the taskforce can achieve, but to be successful they’ve got to use their new-found ‘in-the-tent’ influence wisely to press their case, particularly when it comes to freeing up data. But the truth is that the benefits of the agenda are so obvious it’s hardly worth arguing against any more.
Just look at crime data. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is driving changes that help the police and communities work even more closely together. Taskforce members are already working closely with Jacqui’s team to ensure we make swifter progress on initiatives like crime mapping – work that I think will transform the way communities stand up to the bad guys.
.net: How much progress have you made so far?
TW: It’s early days but I’ve assembled a strong group of independent-minded people for the taskforce and I think they’re going to make a big difference. But here’s where I need your help. If you have ideas, then please email them to watsont@parliament.uk. I want this to be a community effort, so please take part if you want.
.net: In the speech that launched the taskforce you suggested monitoring social networks like Netmums and communicating with their users directly. Are you not concerned this could feel intrusive and infringe people’s privacy?
TW: It shouldn’t be intrusive to listen. It should be helpful to speak as a public servant with a recognised specialisation on social networking sites.
.net: What kind of reaction were you met with in Westminster when you launched a blog in 2003, the first MP to do so?
TW: Most of MPs didn’t get it. Those that did thought I was bonkers. I still haven’t fully worked out if they were right. I also got a number of emails from ‘professional web designers’ who failed to understand that the ‘Teens’ section was ironic and offering to do a much better job for as little as £20,000. The world never changes.
.net: How many people read your blog?
TW: About 500 on a good day. Or 30,000 on a bad day!
.net: Charles Leadbeater, who used to advise Tony Blair on the internet, recently told us that the government didn’t realise its opportunities. The Government’s track record in IT certainly isn’t something to boast about. How do you think this will change?
TW: I’m not sure I agree with that – I think the opportunities are recognised. Just look at the PM’s vision of a global digital society at the Google Zeitgeist conference: tinyurl.co.uk/kh4e. The problem, and the thing that frustrates me daily, is that we’re not moving fast enough.
.net: The Government is operating around 2,500 websites that costs the taxpayer £208 million a year. How come? And what are you doing to get these figures down?
TW: Doing great stuff online is going to cost money. The government runs the biggest transactional sites in the UK. A quarter of a million people a week purchase their tax disc online. I’ve not done the numbers but that must rival Amazon UK for the number of financial transactions made each week. Given the BBC spends a similar amount on websites, I think that taxpayers get decent value for money.
The 2,500 figure includes sites belonging to local government, devolved administrations and the like. A year or so back, central government departments and their executive agencies had just under 1,500 sites. We’ve already closed down over 400 of them and another 1,000 will be gone by 2011. All the useful information they hold is being moved to Directgov and Businesslink.gov.uk.
We’ve also got to optimise our sites for search and make sure our content is relevant and up to the minute. A lot of work is also being done to sort out accessibility, and before that bloke who keeps sending truculent emails to officials at my department takes to his keyboard – yes, I know the Cabinet Office site can be improved.
.net: Where does your passion for the internet come from?
TW: My latent inner geek.
.net: Why did Downing Street decide to start twittering?
TW: The guy in charge of the project very wisely sought forgiveness not permission, just like they did with e-petitions. Try stuff out. If it doesn’t work, just turn it off. The same goes with the new ‘Ask the Prime Minister’ initiative on YouTube. The most successful internet companies don’t mind if something doesn’t work first time. In fact, they call it something different – iterate. I don’t think we should be any different when it comes to the internet.
Tom Watson
Job Labour Party MP for West Bromwich East
Age 41
Education University of Hull
Previous career Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, Labour’s National Development Officer for Youth, marketing officer and advertising account executive
Blog www.tom-watson.co.uk
Comments
Frank Pollacco / 04/11/2008 / 21:46
Great interview! It shows how important the web is for any organization today.
