We’re fortunate to have a new encumbent as Minister for Transformational Government at the Cabinet Office who really gets it – Westminster über-blogger, Tom Watson. His vision is encapsulated in his recent speech at the Transformational Government Event.

And his plans for the immediate future are ambitious:

I see my job as helping you to accelerate the pace of change. Over the next few months, we will be:

• pushing through the closure of our hundreds of unnecessary websites
• improving our online content, including minimum standards for the content of remaining websites
• ensuring that all content held on government web sites is fully accessible to the major search engines
• embedding data mash-up into thinking across all of government not just the early adopters within departments
• driving through the cultural change in all our communications that sees the internet, mobile and other new media as the norm
• ensuring better innovation and much faster implementation. Build stuff small, test it out then iterate, iterate, iterate
• capturing the skills, talent and energy we need for change – from within the public service and from outside …
• using new media to engage more directly and more effectively with individuals and communities.