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Sir Keir Starrer said this week that the digitization of government services throughout the public sector could achieve up to 45 billion GBP annually in savings and productivity advantages.
After a review this year, the British Prime Minister came into the total amount commissioned by technology secretary Peter Kyle and carried out by civil servants in his department together with the advisory company Bain & Company.
In her report published in January, it was estimated that more use of digital technology and artificial intelligence could save a total of 4-7 percent of the public sector’s editions, which makes it the “most powerful lever” in order to advance the reform throughout the state. However, no detailed breakdown was crucial.
Where do the savings come from?
Officials from the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology informed the Financial Times that 36 billion GBP – or 80 percent – would be valued by the simplification and automation of delivery throughout the public sector.
This would contain the widespread use of AI Administrative tasks such as transcribution meetings, sorting and analysis of state consultation answers, summary of guidelines and implementation of legal and parliamentary research. The government’s AI linkator is currently developing “Humphrey”, a tool package for covering each of these areas that are named after the tangerine from the TV series Yes, minister.
These tools have the potential of saving billions of pounds per year of the money currently spent on contractors. For example, the employee costs for analyzing the reactions of the state consultation a total of 80 million GBP per year.
Where do the other savings come from?
Another 4 billion GBP of predicted savings results from the “migration of service processing to cheaper online channels”, predicts the officials. This includes the shift of expensive modes of state communication, such as: B. Postal Sponence and text messages, e -mails.
Whitehall also starts a beta version of his GOV.UK -App this summer, which should offer the British a single online access for all interactions with the state. This offers the government a cheap path to communicate with the citizens.
An additional 6 billion GBP could be saved by reducing fraud and errors with digital compliance solutions, civil servants said. Digitization is expected to improve data management in HM Revenue & Customs and beyond and to improve the ability of algorithms, to recognize fraud and tax evasion.
How credible is the government’s calculation?
Some experts are skeptical. Nick Davies, program director at the government’s institute for the government’s think tank, said that he understood how digital technology could increase productivity, but warned that Starer’s proposal could be misleading for considerable “basha -made” savings.
While “transaction” services such as the output of passports and driving licenses and other back office functions can be automated, it is difficult to replicate personal services such as healthcare for which the personnel of the front line is required, he said.
Davies predicted that reaching real savings of such a “large year” would require the state to offer some services instead of simply automating them.
Joe Hill, political director at the Reform-Think tank, said that it was “clear that more savings from areas such as fraud”, warned that neither the Ministry of Finance nor the office for budget responsibility should incorporate these savings in their models on the basis of “General obligations to digitize and automate public sector”.
Chi Onwurah, Labor Chairman of the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, said that the total amount seemed to be “credible” in theory, but require coordination between the ministers, the public service, the systems and the suppliers. “The promise of the technological transformation of the public sector has not been realized too often,” she warned and examined teachings from the creation of universal credit and digital health records that examines her committee.
