e-Goverment is apparently dead and we should all be getting ready for ‘t-government’ – at least that’s according to e-Government supremo Ian Watmore.

‘t’ in this case, appears to stand for ‘transformation’ which will be at the ‘heart of the government’s new vision and strategy for technology in government to be published in the next couple of weeks’.

Government have a ‘new vision’, a ‘new strategy’ and, of course, a ‘new buzzword’ but what does this all mean?

Yep, you’re right – it means another bunch of consultants have just wandered out the door with a big fat paycheck at taxpayers expense.

It also means that its no coincidence whatsoever that this announcement at the SOCITM conference has been made on the very same day that the ID cards bill gets its third reading as Watmore[fucking overpaid consultants] goes on to rally the troops by telling them them that at the strategy’s core will be three things: putting the customer [us] at the centre of government services, shared services and professionalism, which the Register helpfully points out will mean things like:

“linking the profiles of prisoners set for release to the public services that should provide support for them in their rehabilitation”

…before noting that Watmore went on to say:

“Things like NHS Direct are good, but is only on the margins of what is possible from the NHS. I want to have access to the doctor for diagnosis, and I want the doctor to have access to the latest information about me through the electronic patient record. I want the same to be true for teachers and police. I want the best information in the hands of the frontline public servants.”

So, while the Safety Elephant is misleading parliament and the British people with claims of concessions in the ID cards bill which are, in IT parlance, total ‘vapourware’, Watmore is addressing a conference of governmental ubertechs on the joys and efficiency of creating exactly the kind of all-encompassing data systems that Clark claims won’t exist under the new ID card regime.