David Taylor was Labour MP for North West Leicestershire. Member of EURIM, serving 1997-2010. He has worked as a accountant, a software developer and an IT manager for more than 18 yearst before becoming an MP. Won the converted Commons backbencher of the year in 2007. Described as a regular thorn in the side of ministers.

Software Patents

House of Commons debate Patents Bill 7 June 2004

I was pleased to hear that one division of the Patent Office in Newport deals with intellectual property. Does my hon. Friend agree that if we do as the Bill suggests and comply with the revised European patent convention, there is a risk that software patents will become the rule in Europe, as they are in Japan and the United States? There are real risks to that, in that such matters are not the subject of intellectual creation; they are just different ways of doing things and obvious ways of using new technology. If we go down that path, we will chill innovation, damage our competitiveness and open programmers and the companies that employ them to legal challenge at every turn. To declare an interest, I speak as a former software developer.

NHS

Extremely critical of the outsourcing of NHS IT.

House of Commons debate NHS IT Programme (Data Security) 4 November 2008

"Did the Minister see the recent article in Computer Weekly, which revealed that the national health service has released 300 million confidential medical records--including dates of birth, postcodes, details of A and E visits and in-patient treatment--to an academic organisation outside the NHS? A further 250 million records of a similar level of detail of out-patient treatments were released. How satisfied is the Minister that the academic world will treat such sensitive information with the necessary confidentiality? Will the framework be as tough as the one he described in respect of the NHS?"

Computer Weekly Need for NHS IT audit raised in parliament 16 May 2006

"One area where we have, sadly, maintained the record of the previous government is in the acquisition, design, build, implementation and running of major computer systems such as Connecting for Health."

Identity cards

Voted against the Identity Cards Bill.

Signed Early Day Motion 263 Identity Cards 06 June 2005

That this House believes that a convincing case for the introduction of compulsory biometric identity cards and a national database has not been made, that the risks involved far outweigh any discernible benefit, that the introduction of identity cards will fundamentally change the relationship between the citizen and the state, diminish personal privacy and threaten civil liberties, that the present proposals do not provide properly costed, proportionate or effective solutions to the problems they are claimed to solve; and calls upon the Government to shelve plans for their introduction.

Open Source Software

Signed Early Day Motion 179 Software in Schools 21 November 2006

That this House congratulates the Open University and other schools, colleges and universities for utilising free and open source software to deliver cost-effective educational benefit not just for their own institutions but also the wider community; and expresses concern that Becta and the Department for Education and Skills, through the use of outdated purchasing frameworks, are effectively denying schools the option of benefiting from both free and open source software and the value and experience small and medium ICT companies could bring to the schools market.

Copyright

Signed Early Day motion 1392 Copyright term for producers and performers 1 May 2007

That this House notes that 50 years ago Lonnie Donegan's Cumberland Gap was No. 1 in the charts for five weeks; is concerned that due to the present law governing payments for use of audio recordings this track will go out of copyright at the end of 2007 and that the family of Lonnie Donegan, who would have been 76 on 29th April, and the other performers, Denny Wright, John Nicholls and Mickey Ashman, and their company Pye Records, which produced this unique recording, will no longer receive any royalties, nor have any say in how this recording is used; is further concerned that thousands of musicians and their record companies will lose out over the next few years because of the shorter copyright term for sound recordings relative to that granted to almost all other creators, including the songwriters and the sleeve artists who enjoy copyright for the whole of their life plus a further 70 years; notes with concern that, according to a Musicians Union survey, 90 per cent. of musicians earn less than £15,000 a year, and thus acknowledges that the extension of copyright will come as a much needed financial boost to many low paid musicians; and asks the Government to make representations to the European Commission to look at this inequity.

Links

David Taylor MP TheyWorkForYou.com
wikipedia: David Taylor (British politician)
David Taylor MP Early Day Motions

News

2008-11-10 - Computer Weekly - NPfIT minister was wrong in reply on records leaving NHS: Author: Tony Collins; Summary: The minister in charge of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has given an incorrect reply to a Labour MP who asked in the House of Commons about a disclosure on this blog that 300 million confidential patient records have left the NHS for an academic organisation. Ben Bradshaw, the minister in charge of the NPfIT, was unwittingly incorrect when replying to a question by a Labour MP, David Taylor, who is a former IT manager. Computer Weekly had revealed that nearly 300 million confidential medical records have transferred officially from the government to an academic organisation outside the NHS. But in the House of Commons on 4 November 2008, Bradshaw gave the impression to David Taylor that all the records were anonymized before leaving the NHS. This is incorrect.

2007-09-26 - Computer Weekly - Channel 4 Dispatches - Is the National Audit Office a mere critical friend to government?: Author: Tony Collins; Summary: Labour MP David Taylor, an auditor by profession and former computer manager, told the programme: "There is almost a cosy cartel at the very upper echelons of the NAO and government departments. There has been a whole succession of failed major projects where the NAO has been very quiet and I am very concerned about that." .... The NAO report on the NHS's National Programme for IT: Publication of the NAO's report on the NHS's National Programme for IT [NPfIT] was so often delayed that when finally released it was almost lyrical in its flattery of the Department of Health and NHS Connecting for Health, which runs part of the programme. Three ministers have quoted from it at various times in Parliament, as though if it were anything but a party pamphlet, to counter criticism of the programme - though they did not always quote from it accurately. The accusation that the NAO is too close to the departments it audits is not helped by its having had one of its senior members on the programme board of the NPfIT.

2006-06-26 - Computer Weekly - Rural Payments Agency review should include IT, say MPs: Author: Tash Shifrin; Summary: MPs have demanded that a “root and branch” review of the Rural Payments Agency should include an examination of its IT system and the role of outsourcer Accenture. ... But Labour MP David Taylor, one of the co-rapporteurs on the Environment Food and Rural Affairs select ccommittee, asked Miliband whether a forthcoming review of the RPA would include "an assessment of the success or otherwise of the specification, design, development, implementation and operation of the information and communications technology system". He added, "Will the review also consider the role of Accenture - a company whose performance has been patchy, to put it kindly – and that of the Office of Government Commerce, whose purpose is supposed to be to advise government on these matters?"

2006-06-13 - Computer Weekly - Audit office set to publish delayed NHS IT inquiry: Author: Tony Collins; Summary: Public spending watchdog the National Audit Office is due to publish this week the delayed findings of a two-year inquiry into the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT). Auditors will also brief some MPs separately on the more contentious areas of the report. ... After a call by 23 experts in computer-related sciences for an independent technical audit of the NPfIT, the Commons Health Committee is expected to hold a series of hearings into the programme this autumn. ... Meanwhile, MPs of the three main parties say they will renew this autumn an early day motion, which notes the concerns of the 23 academics and calls for an independent review of the NPfIT. Labour MP David Taylor, an IT manager for more than 18 years and a sponsor of the current early day motion, said the projected costs of the programme appeared to be "running amok". Taylor said he had been unable to ascertain whether its leaders were working to any key performance indicators. He was also critical of the lack of concrete objective information on the programme.

2006-05-16 - Computer Weekly - Need for NHS IT audit raised in parliament: Author: Tony Collins; Summary: A campaign by 23 experts in computer-related science for an independent audit of the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) is gathering strength after it was raised in the House of Commons. Labour MP David Taylor, a former computer manager, questioned the leader of the house Geoff Hoon on an open letter signed by the 23 academics, asking the Health Committee to call for a technical audit of the scheme. Taylor praised the government's record on improving public services but added, “One area where we have, sadly, maintained the record of the previous government is in the acquisition, design, build, implementation and running of major computer systems such as Connecting for Health.”

2006-02-14 - The Guardian - Labour ID card rebels: Summary: Diane Abbott MP (Hackney North & Stoke Newington), Katy Clark MP (Ayrshire North and Arran), Jeremy Corbyn MP (Islington North), Gwyneth Dunwoody MP (Crewe & Nantwich), Mark Fisher MP (Stoke-on-Trent Central), Paul Flynn MP (Newport West), Ian Gibson MP (Norwich North), Kate Hoey MP (Vauxhall), Kelvin Hopkins MP (Luton North), Glenda Jackson MP (Hampstead & Highgate), Lynne Jones MP (Birmingham Selly Oak), John McDonnell MP (Hayes & Harlington), Robert Marshall-Andrews MP (Medway), Linda Riordan MP (Halifax), Clare Short MP (Birmingham Ladywood), Alan Simpson MP (Nottingham South), John Smith MP (Vale of Glamorgan), David Taylor MP (Leicestershire North West), Robert Wareing MP (Liverpool West Derby), Mike Wood MP (Batley & Spen)

2004-03-28 - Computer Weekly - IBM preferred bidder for Defra contract: Summary: The initial decision to outsource IT at Defra provoked controversy in 2003, with one MP calling the decision "woeful". ... David Taylor, the MP for North-West Leicestershire, was a member of the Commons Committee that oversees Defra's activities and concentrates on the department's IT strategy. "We on the committee were all disappointed at the weak, perhaps even woeful, approach to IT," he said.

2003-07-30 - Computer Weekly - EDS fails to bid for £850m Defra outsourcing deal: Author: James Rogers; Summary: Accenture, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and IBM have been shortlisted for the controversial outsourcing contract at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, despite concerns about strategy from users and MPs. ... MPs have also criticised the 10-year, £850m contract. Earlier this year, Labour MP David Taylor launched a fierce attack on Defra's "woeful" decision to outsource its IT. The former Leicestershire County Council IT manager condemned the move to outsource before Defra had an IT director or a coherent IT strategy. ... In January 2002, the Office of Government Commerce warned that the project would be very high risk unless shortfalls in skills and resources were met, according to the analyst group.

2003-05-08 - Computer Weekly - e-government and the new Marxism: Author: Simon Moores; Summary: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), in the face of fierce criticism from MPs, is outsourcing its IT services to the private sector under a deal worth almost £1.5bn. One Labour MP, David Taylor, expressed concern that decisions had been made to outsource IT delivery before a departmental IT strategy was in place. He accused Defra's management of "rushing" to finalise its IT strategy by the end of March to meet its timetable for procurement. "It is, therefore, a strategy to support the programme rather than reflect the true business needs of Defra," he told the House. Examples like this exist perhaps because our e-government programme is built upon politics rather than technology, so it stumbles from one expensive departmental fudge to the next.

2003-04-11 - Computer Weekly - Defra outsourcing bid slammed in parliament: Summary: A former local government computer chief has launched a fierce attack on the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' "woeful" decision to outsource its IT system. David Taylor, the MP for North-West Leicestershire, called a special debate at the end of Commons business to condemn "the sad Gadarene rush of departments towards the expensive abandonment of control called "outsourcing". The former Leicestershire County Council IT manager is a member of the Commons Committee that oversees Defra's activities and concBut Labour MP David Taylor, one of the co-rapporteurs on the Environment Food and Rural Affairs select ccommittee, asked Miliband whether a forthcoming review of the RPA would include “an assessment of the success or otherwise of the specification, design, development, implementation and operation of the information and communications technology system”. He added, “Will the review also consider the role of Accenture – a company whose performance has been patchy, to put it kindly – and that of the Office of Government Commerce, whose purpose is supposed to be to advise government on these matters?”entrates on the department's IT strategy. Taylor said: "We on the committee were all disappointed at the weak, perhaps even woeful, approach to IT. "My public sector experience has been that outsourcing can be the last desperate act of an IT-illiterate top management who are drowning in a whirlpool of technology they do not understand, and who are seduced by private sector IT sharks into buying solutions claimed to be a panacea for all ills, including their organisational incompetence." "I regret the lack of an IT strategy, other than to sell off IT and throw Defra to the mercies of the private sector." The Labour MP said that after the foot and mouth epidemic of 2001, Defra opted for privatisation before developing its IT straBut Labour MP David Taylor, one of the co-rapporteurs on the Environment Food and Rural Affairs select ccommittee, asked Miliband whether a forthcoming review of the RPA would include “an assessment of the success or otherwise of the specification, design, development, implementation and operation of the information and communications technology system”.

2001-08-16 - Computer Weekly - Backbench MPs to fight PPP funding for public IT: Author: James Rogers; Summary: The Government is facing a possible revolt by backbenchers and trade unions over the use of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) financing of public sector IT projects. Labour MP David Taylor plans to set up a backbench parliamentary group to campaign against the Government's plans to develop risk-sharing relationships between the public and private sectors on major IT projects.