Joined-Up Government

There seem to be several different definitions in play, even within the UK Government.

Technological - Focus on the wiring that connects different parts of Government, as well as providing electronic services to the citizen. E-Government. This is what you get from the Office of the e-Envoy. Seen as a cost-saving and efficiency measure by the UK Treasury.

Accountability - Focus on joined-up information. This is implied by certain Canadian sources.

Policy - Focus on formulating and implementing cross-cutting policy. For example, this is what you get from the UK policy hub:

• Cross-cutting approaches - A joined up approach to policy making clearly defines cross-cutting objectives at the outset.


• Joined-up management - A joined up approach to policy making ensures that joint working arrangements within the departments are clearly defined and well understood.


• Delivery - A joined up approach to policy making ensures that implementation is considered part of the policy process.

Holistic Government - This is what you get from Geoff Mulgan, one of New Labour's leading thinkers. Among the tactics for joined-up government, he mentions:

• joined-up budgets for areas, client groups and problems;


• joined-up policy-making;


• joined-up data management, standards, and use of digital signatures; and


• joint training of officials and ministers (which he thinks may be one of the most powerful tools for changing behaviour).

Governments can use service engineering to connect within or between large departmental silos.

This is an example of what joined-up government looks like from the citizen's perspective. Applying for a student place and applying for a loan are part of the same process. If government doesn't allow the citizen to synchronize these steps, then the citizen is forced to bear extra risk.