Budget a missed opportunity?

Chancellor George Osborne's Budget last week was "a missed opportunity to use investment and incentives in IT and the digital sector to boost the economy, social inclusion, and public sector efficiency," according to Socitm.

The organisation said while confirmation of free, superfast broadband access to the 21 Enterprise Zones was welcomed as a stimulus, the measure was "in practice relatively modest". It also said additional investment in infrastructure to speed up superfast broadband penetration would have been welcome, "widening the possibility of short term growth beyond those areas experiencing relatively lower reductions in public spending". 

Socitm said more should have been done to help digital exclusion, and pointed out while shopping online saved the average household £560 a year, adding this to the state pension would cost the Treasury £6 billion.

The body also criticised the lack of incentives for public sector investment in the sustainable use of ICT. 

"There is still a suspicion and fear of IT in the minds of some Government decision makers because of the well-publicised public sector IT project fiascos (although these occur in both public and private sectors)' says Jos Creese, President of Socitm. "This may account for a reluctance to be more specific about the potential for technology to reform public services in particular."