It's Time for a Minister of Digital Affairs
The social benefits scandal was a harsh wake-up call for many politicians and administrators. It shattered the belief that, in the Netherlands, you’re well taken care of if you rely on government support. What seemed like a fair and compassionate system turned out to be a rigid, harmful bureaucracy. The human element had vanished from the way the system operated.
If you think this was a one-off incident, you're mistaken. As the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry stated in their final report: “The underlying patterns are still present. [...] Another scandal could happen at any time.”
One of the key issues the committee pointed out is the outdated IT systems that government organizations rely on. The word “IT” is mentioned 92 times in the report, and for good reason: many victims could have been spared if these systems were better. For example, outdated IT systems caused delays in processing tax surcharges for up to five years. In the meantime, people were forced to repay up to 100,000 euros, leaving their lives in ruins.
You might wonder how IT systems could become so obsolete that the government struggles to perform basic tasks. The reason is simple: no one is in charge. IT within the government is still a “free-for-all,” with different departments and agencies each doing their own thing. This has created a chaotic IT landscape filled with outdated systems that can barely communicate with each other. Both citizens and civil servants get trapped in this fragmented IT mess.
We need to address this issue during the government formation process. The government must take control of IT as soon as possible. In 2022, we appointed a Secretary of State responsible for Digitalization alongside Kingdom Relations. While this is a step in the right direction, this position doesn’t have the power to make necessary changes.
That’s why we need a dedicated Minister of Digital Affairs. This minister would oversee all major IT projects in the government. All ministries and agencies would submit their IT plans to this minister for approval. This would allow the minister to ensure collaboration between different departments, modernize outdated infrastructure, and prevent political pressure from delaying important upgrades. This could save the government a lot of money—just in 2022, the tax authorities spent almost 850 million euros to keep old systems running.
Additionally, a Minister of Digital Affairs could help prevent disasters in building new IT systems. Currently, most large IT projects end up massively over budget. For example, the system behind the Environmental Act, which launched earlier this year, cost one billion euros more than expected.
Research by experts like the Advisory Board for IT Testing shows that these failures happen because technical issues aren’t addressed early enough. By the time they come up during construction, it’s too late to go back and change the original designs. In the hierarchical structure of the government, IT professionals often aren’t listened to, and critical feedback is surpressed, causing projects to drag on for years.
With a team of IT experts, a Minister of Digital Affairs could review and approve projects before they even begin. This would allow the government to use the IT knowledge already available, learn from past mistakes, and save a significant amount of money.
The idea of a Minister of Digital Affairs isn’t new and has broad support from experts inside and outside the government. Many neighboring countries, like Denmark and Estonia, have already successfully introduced similar positions. Few measures could do more to improve the digital rule of law, make the government more efficient, and save so much money.
Continuing to muddle through the current IT mess is no longer acceptable. Because of IT delays, productivity in government services has dropped by 14% in recent years, and this crisis is only getting worse. If we don’t act, we’ll continue to stumble from one disaster to another. It’s up to the forming political parties to tackle the root cause of this problem. The first step is appointing a Minister of Digital Affairs. And here’s a suggestion: don’t choose an administrative expert or lawyer for the job—pick an IT professional with experience in governance.