Digital projects

​Request 759767102 

A.
A few years ago there was an eGov project and digital projects were published on gov.je, along with details, benefit and the current phase.​
The page is no longer accessible to the public, however it can be seen on archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20230208080432/gov.je/Government/DigitalServices/BusinessArchitecture/projects/Pages/index.aspx
Why was this page, as well as all the project pages, removed from gov.je
B.
Are new digital projects being created still? If yes, are the details published anywhere and can we view this.
C.
Does the Government plan on developing projects in the open in the future? There is a GitHub page at https://github.com/StatesOfJersey that has hardly seen an update in years.
D.
Does the Government have an in-house software development team? If no, would it not make more sense from a financial and efficiency perspective to create one, instead of outsourcing? If yes, why are we, the public, not seeing the benefits - there is low GitHub activity, embarrassingly outdated driving test booking and parking payments websites.
E.
What is the purpose of https://verify.gov.je and who was it developed by.
F.
Is there plans to move away from SharePoint on gov.je? If so, when is this intended to be done by and what software will you move to.
G.
The website https://blog.gov.je is slow and unreliable. Is there plans to resolve this?

Response 

A. eGov and Digital Projects
The eGov project pages referred to the 2015 – 2017  eGov Programme. The pages were no longer being maintained and were no longer considered necessary as the services are now established as live public services and do not require further description.

More references including government activity can be found in the following areas found by searching https://www.gov.je/.

• Digital Economy Strategy (2023)

• Future Economy Programme (2023)

• Investing in Jersey Programme (2025)

• Common Strategic Policy 2024 to 2026

• Budget (Government Plan) 2025 to 2028

• Current business plans 

B. New Digital Projects

Digital projects are an ongoing part of the Government of Jersey's operations. Larger projects are referenced within departmental business plans and other strategic documents found by searching https://www.gov.je/

• Business Plans 2025

• Digital Economy Strategy (2023)

• Future Economy Programme (2023)

• Investing in Jersey Programme (2025)

• Common Strategic Policy 2024 to 2026

• Budget (Government Plan) 2025 to 2028 

C. Developing projects in the open in the future

The Government is reviewing how it can collaborate more openly with external technology partners. While open development is being considered, heightened global cybersecurity risks mean we're approaching this cautiously. At present, no firm commitment has been made.

The GitHub page (https://github.com/StatesOfJersey) is a community space primarily used by external contributors, and its activity does not reflect internal development work, which is often conducted in secure environments. 

D.  Inhouse development team

The Government of Jersey has in-house development capabilities, distributed across several teams:

• Solutions Development Team – Focuses on Azure-based solutions and system integration.

• States of Jersey Police development team – Undertake development for many essential business applications

• Web Team – Responsible for managing web content. While this team does not carry out software development directly, web development is outsourced. 

These teams support critical and essential government services. However, due to the sensitive nature of many systems and environments, source code is not typically published openly for security reasons. This is why there is limited public visibility on platforms such as GitHub.

Regarding specific services like the driving test booking and parking payment websites, work on these will be prioritised by the relevant department based on available budgets and resources. 

E. The purpose of https://verify.gov.je
https://verify.gov.je was developed by Digital Services to enable in-house testing of concepts for future government services. 

F. SharePoint on gov.je

There is an intention to explore options for the replacement of the current SharePoint infrastructure which underpins gov.je.  This exploration will consider what future infrastructure should be in place, but at this time this consideration has not taken place and there is no timeline for this activity.

G. The website https://blog.gov.je is slow and unreliable

There are issues with the speed and performance of https://blog.gov.je  To resolve these issues will require an improvement in infrastructure, which currently has no funding identified.  ​​​