10 Interoperability as a means for modernising
the public sector: the ISA2 programme
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested
|
| Document details | Draft Council Decision establishing a programme on interoperability solutions for European public administrations, businesses and citizens (ISA2)
|
| Legal base | Articles 172 TFEU; ordinary legislative procedure
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| Department | Cabinet Office
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| Document Number | (36197), 11580/14, COM(14) 367
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Summary and Committee's conclusions
10.1 The ISA programme was launched on 1 January 2010 and runs
for five years. It has a budget of €160 million. Its main
objective is to support cooperation between European public administrations
by facilitating efficient and effective electronic cross-border
and cross-sectoral interaction, with a view to enabling the delivery
of electronic public services supporting the implementation of
EU policies and activities (see paragraphs 10.14-10.16 below for
full details).
10.2 A January 2013 interim evaluation was largely positive. But
it was too early to arrive at any firm conclusions on the programme's
utility or effectiveness, and the need to identify possible means
to ensure the long term sustainability of an increasing number
of solutions developed by the ISA programme was highlighted. Although
the evaluation found that ISA was generally working well internally
and with other EU initiatives, the majority of stakeholders interviewed
suggested that there were overlaps that could be better managed;
and whilst Member States were involved in the oversight of the
ISA programme, it was not yet sufficiently effective in meeting
the needs and priorities of individual Member States (see paragraphs
10.17-10.20 below for full details).
10.3 The proposed Council Decision is for a successor programme,
ISA2, to run from 2016-20, with a budget of €146.6 million,
and is intended to "consolidate, promote and expand its activities".
In particular, the new programme will:
· "help
to identify, create and operate interoperability solutions, which
will then be provided for unlimited use to other Union institutions
and bodies, and national, regional and local public administrations,
thus facilitating cross-border or cross-sector interaction between
them;
· "develop
interoperability solutions autonomously or complement and support
other Union initiatives by piloting interoperability solutions
as a 'solution incubator' or ensuring their sustainability as
a 'solution bridge'; and
· "assess
the ICT implications of existing and proposed EU legislation".[54]
10.4 The Minister (Mr Francis Maude) notes that there
are a number of interrelated programmes across many policy areas
including Health, Taxation, Business and Competition, Justice,
Procurement, Animal Health, Statistics, and ICT & Digital
Services, and is broadly supportive of this proposed Council Decision,
as are the other government departments who have been consulted
(see paragraphs 10.18-10.24 below and the annex to this chapter
of our Report for full details).
10.5 He also notes that:
— the
Commission is yet to undertake an impact assessment on this decision
and that "UKREP have been trying to obtain more information";
— adoption
of this decision impacts on a number of programmes or initiatives;
— however,
"it does not itself have any direct impacts on businesses
or citizens since it promotes interoperability between governments
at all levels";
— the
only assessment undertaken by the EU is largely based on the evaluations
of previous programmes and on the fact that these programmes have
identified an ongoing need for developing or updating interoperability
standards; and
— "the
full evaluation of the current programme is not yet available
and HMG will want to monitor progress in implementing the recommendations
from the interim evaluation".
10.6 Finally, the Minister says that he does not
know "when Council will give consideration to this decision,
nor which Council will lead the discussions".
10.7 The picture is thus of the Commission pushing
ahead without any objective evaluation of how effective the predecessor
programme has been, or an assessment of the impact of its proposed
successor.
10.8 At the same time, the Minister and his predecessor
have made their requirements clear:
— greater
value for money from any new programme, and a shift in focus from
funding for studies to funding for implementation, with an emphasis
on re-use or adaption;
— indications
of progress in implementing the recommendations from the interim
evaluation;
— more
work on common methodologies;
— more
use of open standards, a streamlined governance structure, and
"a more iterative, agile approach" in any successor
programme;
— "more
clarity about governance, a better articulation of user needs,
a clearer understanding of how this will work with other initiatives,
and clarity on the financial case for investment"; and
— addressing
concerns about "the usage of jargon, acronyms, and ambiguous
wording where the meaning is not clear".
10.9 Given that the new programme is envisaged
to start in 15 months' time, it seems extraordinary that the Minister
has no idea of the timetable, or which Council will be responsible
for handling this dossier.
10.10 Nor does the Minister analyse the present
ISA2 text either in terms of the extent to which it addresses
the areas of concern identified in the ISA interim evaluation
or with regard to what he and his predecessor wish to see in the
proposed new programme.
10.11 However, he seems to have become a victim
of his own concern about ambiguous wording where the meaning is
not clear, in that we at least have no idea what is meant by "a
more iterative, agile approach", or implementation, with
an emphasis on re-use or adaption.
10.12 We would like the Minister to address these
issues now. We would also like to know when he expects a full
evaluation of the current programme to emerge; likewise the Commission
impact assessment of the proposed ISA2.
10.13 In the meantime, we shall retain the draft
Council Decision under scrutiny.
Full
details of the documents:
draft Council Decision establishing a programme on interoperability
solutions for European public administrations, businesses and
citizens (ISA2): (36197), 11580/14, COM(14) 367.
Background
10.14 The ISA programme is based on the following
premises:
"Member State administrations need to exchange
information efficiently and effectively across borders if they
are to discharge their responsibilities and provide services to
people and businesses. If public administrations are able to access
and exchange information about citizens and businesses directly,
it could alleviate the administrative burden placed on all parties.
"But this exchange of information poses
a challenge. European public administrations are not yet geared
up to transfer information electronically in an efficient manner.
National information systems supporting eGovernment differ in
style and function and primarily tend to address internal needs.
But as more and more people and goods move within the EU, public
administrations must start to provide efficient cross-border electronic
public services.
"Without a doubt, as the digital age unfolds
the demand for these services will grow. The ISA programme has
been designed to help public administrations meet this challenge.
"ISA aims to foster interoperability between
public administrations by helping to establish common approaches
that will make collaboration a lot easier. Sharing and reusing
tools such as common platforms and common components, along with
the sharing of services like common infrastructures, will also
play a part by keeping costs down and reducing time to market."
[55]
10.15 With all this in mind, the ISA identified areas
of focus:
— establishment
and improvement of common frameworks in support of cross-border
and cross-sectoral interoperability;
— operation
and improvement of existing common services as well as the establishment
of new ones;
— improvement
of existing reusable generic tools as well as the establishment
of new ones; and
— assessment
of the ICT implications of EU legislation.
10.16 These areas of focus are covered under the
rolling ISA Work Programme, and vary from scoping studies, to
pilots and projects, which the Commission reviews at least once
a year after consulting the ISA Committee (an advisory group comprised
of senior representatives of Member States).
10.17 An independent evaluation in 2012 assessed
the following aspects, which the then Minister for Civil Society
at the Cabinet Office (Mr Nick Hurd) summarised as follows:
— Relevance:
the programme was aligned with the Digital Agenda for Europe and
the eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 and supported interaction
between European public administrations. However, Member States
identified the need for better coordination between the ISA programme
and both the Member States and Commission services and increased
reusability of ISA solutions;
— Efficiency:
efficient overall, but the programme needed staff at the centre
with the right people and to engage stakeholders better to get
expertise where needed;
— Effectiveness:
the ISA programme is still in its early stages and very few new
actions have so far delivered results;
— Utility:
ditto;
— Sustainability:
ditto; the findings note the need to identify possible means to
ensure the long term sustainability of an increasing number of
solutions developed by the ISA programme;
— Coherence:
assessed as generally working well internally and with other EU
initiatives, though the majority of stakeholders interviewed suggested
that there were overlaps that could be better managed;
— Coordination:
whilst Member States are involved in the oversight of the ISA
programme, it was not yet sufficiently effective in meeting the
needs and priorities of individual Member States.
10.18 In sum, the then Minister described the evaluation
as largely positive, but highlighted the following areas for improvement
for the remainder of the programme, which he said that the Commission
was already starting to implement:
— communication
and raising awareness
— engagement
of stakeholders and project management continuity
— avoiding
overlaps and duplications of work, increasing reusability and
ensuring sustainability.
10.19 The then Minister noted that, in early discussions
on the scope and nature of the replacement programme for ISA,
the Commission was acknowledging some the challenges being faced
by EU institutions and Member States alike that were not at the
forefront of considerations in 2008-09, in particular providing
services based on user needs set against a challenging economic
climate; and a new governance model, to align with other parts
of the Commission as well as other institutions.
10.20 For its part, the then Minister said, the Government
would support aspects of the new programme that continued to look
at open standards as a means of interoperability of services and
provide mechanisms for re-use; and would also welcome a more streamlined
and connected governance structure. Whilst recognising that working
across a number of Member States was a complex task, the then
Minister also believed that greater value for money could be derived
from any new programme, and would like to see a shift in focus
from funding for studies to funding for implementation with an
emphasis on re-use or adaption.[56]
The Minister's Explanatory Memorandum of 5 September
2014
10.21 In his Explanatory Memorandum, the Minister
for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)
recalls that, whilst being generally supportive of the evaluation
of the previous programme, and noting that the UK had benefited
from it, the Government "wanted to see more work on common
methodologies" and "hoped to see more use of open standards,
a streamlined governance structure, and a more iterative, agile
approach adopted in any successor programme." He notes that
all these issues have been raised in the "Beyond ISA"
committee discussions, with an emphasis on:
"the need for more clarity about governance,
a better articulation of user needs, a clearer understanding of
how this will work with other initiatives, and clarity on the
financial case for investment."
10.22 Concerns were also raised about "the usage
of jargon, acronyms, and ambiguous wording where the meaning is
not clear."
The Government's view
10.23 The Minister is broadly supportive of this
proposed Council Decision. He notes that there are a number of
interrelated programmes across many policy areas including Health,
Taxation, Business and Competition, Justice, Procurement, Animal
Health, Statistics, and ICT & Digital Services; other government
departments broadly support the need for this Decision, and have
commented about:
· "Relationship
of this decision with other existing initiatives such as the Digital
Single Market, Connecting Europe Facility, European Legislation
Identifier, and the European Structural & Investments Funds;
· "Relationship
between interoperability, other standards and the need to make
more use of open standards;
· "Need
for closer working with other advisory bodies and standards organisations
like the Advisory Committee on Public Procurement, World Trade
Organisation, etc.;
· "Need
for greater transparency on the objectives of the proposed programme
and clarity on how the various competing strands of the programme
will come together; and
· "Differences
in the approach being taken in the EU to that in the UK (where
a more open, agile and iterative approach has been adopted)."
10.24 The Minister says that the Cabinet Office will
continue to work with other government departments and UKREP to
ensure that all these issues are taken into account during the
continuing negotiations on the decision, when "the need for
greater transparency, engagement, and re-use of standards should
be addressed".
10.25 Finally, the Minister notes:
"The EU has not undertaken an impact assessment
on this decision and UKREP have been trying to obtain more information.
The adoption of this decision impacts on a number of programmes
or initiatives. However, it does not itself have any direct impacts
on businesses or citizens since it promotes interoperability between
governments at all levels. The only assessment undertaken by the
EU is largely based on the evaluations of previous programmes
and on the fact that these programmes have identified an ongoing
need for developing or updating interoperability standards. However,
the full evaluation of the current programme is not yet available
and HMG will want to monitor progress in implementing the recommendations
from the interim evaluation."
Previous Committee Reports:
None.
54 COM(14) 367, p 11. Back
55
See http://ec.europa.eu/isa/ for full information on ISA. Back
56
The Minister's Explanatory Memorandum of 26 April 2013 refers. Back
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