If it works, myGov would have helped me
Updated on 22 March 2010
Technology Correspondent Benjamin Cohen examines the case for a single point of Government contact like myGov from his own personal experiences.
The myGov web service that Gordon Brown launched today has some distinct positive implications.
I speak as someone with a real understanding of the draw backs of the current system. I have Multiple Sclerosis and I receive a myriad of assistance and some benefits as a result of the disabling affects of the illness.
Here's a typical example of the nightmare of the current system.
My wallet was pick-pocketed on New Years Day. In it was a range of important cards.
My banks smoothly replaced my credit cards.
My driving license was easy to replace, I ordered one at DirectGov and it was a smooth process, but I did have to pay £20 to replace it.
But replacing two other government cards was harder. My TaxiCard gives me a limited number of discounted taxi journeys. My Freedom Pass gives me free use of public transport.
I had to report the loss to the police over the phone so I could give TaxiCard and my local authority who issue the Freedom Pass a crime reference number.
TaxiCard arranged for a new card over the telephone and a replacement was sent to me the next day but my Freedom Pass was another matter.
I phoned my local authority and was told I had to come to them in person to collect a form; something they couldn’t post or email me. I then had to go away, fill it in and then post it back to them.
Someone clearly processed it but after 10 days, I phoned to enquire about its progress.
I was told a letter would be sent to me inviting me to come in and prove my identity, something I'd need to book over the phone. At first they wouldn't let me book this until the letter had been sent out but after a lot of moaning they agreed.
So I went back to them, showed them my driving license and then they gave me another form. One they'd stamped and that I'd need to take to the Post Office. But because no one seemed to store photographs from previous applications, I'd need to go and get a new passport photo taken.
So armed with this new photograph, I went to my local post office. In the past they'd been able to issue them there and then, but now they don't.
Instead, they post it to an outside agency that scan the photograph, verify my identity and would then post it out to me.
It took eight weeks for the entire process to complete, during which time I paid for my own travel. To replace that one Freedom Pass,I had to make two journeys to the local council and one to the Post Office, easy as I have a car but if I was using public transport, I would have been hampered by the distances to walk between bus stops etc and the fact I was missing my crucial Freedom Pass.
I had to go through five separate interactions with the government, something that if it works, myGov could have replaced with a few clicks of the mouse.
But I’m not here to promote government policy. It's a bold and ambitious plan that if it comes off would be of benefit to many. Indeed the other political parties have proposed similar uses of the internet to streamline interaction with government.
This government doesn't have a great track record when it comes to IT. The NHS IT programme is £10bn over budget and six years over due. Other schemes for farming and fire and rescue have been criticised by parliamentary committees.
Revenue and Customs lost the personal details of everyone claiming child benefits and there have been other less high-profile data blunders.
The creation today of the Institute of Web Science headed by the inventor of the web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the renowned computer scientist Professor Nigel Shadbolt will probably help them go forward with myGov in a better direction.
