Digital Collaboration

Part of 2. Questions to the Leader of the House and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:55 pm on 10 October 2018.

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Photo of Angela Burns Angela Burns Conservative 2:55, 10 October 2018

Leader of the house, on 18 July, I raised my concerns with you that organisations with proven track records in the UK and throughout Europe for their work on digitising and streamlining public services were struggling to gain access to the Welsh Government. You said in response, and I quote:

'I'm very happy to be the conduit into Government if anybody's experiencing that difficulty. Deputy Presiding Officer, I'm always astonished when I say this, but I'll say it again here in the Chamber: my e-mail address is julie.james@gov.wales. It's astonishing to me how few people take up that opportunity. I'd very much welcome contact from anyone who thinks they can improve public services.'

Now, I'm aware of at least one significant company that took you up on this offer. They contacted you on 18 August by e-mail, they've followed it up with two telephone calls so far into your department and they've not yet received a basic reply let alone any further comment on an appointment or even requesting more details of the services that they offer, and this is for digital streamlining in the NHS. Please can you do something to break this inertia within Welsh Government because we could be missing out on really fantastic ideas to streamline our public services?