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Socitm Head of Policy Martin Ferguson is one of a panel of three local authority IT experts who will be giving evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) inquiry into the way in which Government develops information technology (IT) policy, and the strategy for its implementation.

The other panelists are Socitm members Mark Adams-Wright, CIO at Suffolk CC, and David Wilde, CIO at Westminster Council.  The session is at 1030 and will be streamed live from http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=8009

The PASC inquiry addresses the Government's overall approach to information technology including how it identifies business needs, the effectiveness of governance arrangements, and procurement policy and practice. The session on 22 March will be the Committee’s third evidence session. Questions to the local government panel will focus on how local government has used IT to meet the demands of reduced budgets and what central government could learn from this experience.

A second panel is made up of representatives from the Department of Work and Pensions and HMRC and will focus on the challenges central departments face in changing how they use IT.

The partliament.uk website is suggesting particular issues that may arise include:

. How IT has enabled councils to move towards the “virtual council” model;

. The use of shared services and cloud computing in local government and what Whitehall could learn from these experiences;

. Why it has been so difficult to effect change in how government uses and manages its IT;

. The barriers preventing greater use of open source, open standards, agile development, and cloud computing by government; and

. The government’s relationship with larger suppliers

You can find Socitm’s written evidence to PASC at http://www.socitm.net/info/160/policy_and_campaigns/20/key_documents/3