Cabinet Office bans talks on IT

A spokesperson for the department told GC News that a ban on public speaking is "normal practice" whilst an ICT strategy is being developed. When asked why officials have been banned from talking at events, she said: "They're not going out talking about it as the ICT strategy is still being worked on. There's nothing to talk about really." The confirmation follows reports that Andrew Tait from the Efficiency and Reform Group withdrew suddenly from a talk he was scheduled to give to the Parliamentary IT Committee (Pitcom) earlier this week. Computerworld reported on 4 November 2010 that Professor Jim Norton, a member of the committee, sent round an email on 2 November 2010 to members explaining Tait's absence. "I learnt this afternoon that the Cabinet Office are not allowing any of their staff to speak on topics related to government IT, pending the publication of an revised IT strategy in several months time. This means that Andrew Tait has been obliged to withdraw from speaking to us tomorrow evening," Norton said. Tait is deputy director for data centre strategy, G Cloud and apps store at the Office of the Government CIO within the Cabinet Office. The department is leading the government's openness and transparency agenda.