Rowland Manthorpe, technology correspondent

In every organisation I've worked for, there's been a man whose claim to fame is understanding digital. Not tech, but digital. Specifically, digital strategy.

This understanding gives this man - and, yes, it is always a man - a certain power.

Even today, most organisations are confused by tech, so when someone comes along who gets it, they're welcomed with open arms.

"At last!" everyone thinks. "Here's someone who can tell us what to do."


This man can't code, but that doesn't matter because he speaks a language that, to the most senior executives, sounds like code.

He uses phrases like MVP and API. He refers to data lakes (or was it data warehouses?).

And if, occasionally, it seems like he's talking gibberish, no-one mentions it because he seems like someone who understands tech.

He wears a Fitbit. He cycles with Strava. He happily refers to himself as "a proud nerd".

He's also, on every issue that matters, totally wrong.

Image: Digital experts are welcomed with open arms by most organisations, says Rowland Manthorpe

I speak with fondness - personally, I like these men - but also from painful experience.

In the 2000s, digital strategists urged media outlets to give away their articles for free.

In the early 2010s, they encouraged absolute devotion to Facebook. In 2015, they pushed the "pivot to video".

At the time, these decisions were backed by the weight of "digital" consensus. Within a few years, they'd ended in disaster.

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And while the recent history of the media is especially sad, each sector has its own equivalent.

For higher education, it's the MOOC. For retail, "omnichannel".

For booksellers, ebooks. Monuments to the deluged belief that if it's "digital", it must be right.

The memory of these catastrophes is why I feel duty bound to deliver a warning about the digital strategist rising swiftly into the highest ranks of government.

His name? Matt Hancock.

Image: Matt Hancock was appointed health secretary last year

To anyone familiar with the work of the health secretary, this may come as some surprise. In Westminster, Mr Hancock is known as the one minister who understands tech.

His parents ran a software business. He has his own app. He refers to himself as - yes - a proud nerd.

But when your competition is Sajid Javid and Amber Rudd, being the one minister who understands tech is hardly a great achievement.

And, on closer inspection, Mr Hancock's record is far more mixed than his reputation suggests.

For long-time Hancock watchers, the classic case study is the Matt Hancock app, which shocked data protection experts by collecting a Facebook-esque range of intrusive personal information.

NEWS: Today I’ve launched the Matt Hancock app to connect with my West Suffolk constituents. Follow the link to download it & see what’s going on in the Matt app https://t.co/UBH3DtQQhR pic.twitter.com/6FOLjdtPqb — Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) February 1, 2018

Others cite his vocal support of controversial startups Babylon and Uber.

But for me, his signature policy is the so-called porn block.

Launched by Mr Hancock when he was digital minister, this plan to check the age of every porn watcher in the UK is set to launch in July after several delays.

Even at this late stage, companies involved with the scheme are still unsure exactly how it's going to work - but it's quite possible that one of the outcomes will be a database of every porn watcher in the UK.

No doubt it sounded good on paper; but then digital strategies often do. It's only when the strategy has to be turned into reality that the cracks start to appear.

Beware men saying "move fast and break things" unless they can explain exactly how they're going to pick up the pieces.

When I asked policy insiders about Mr Hancock, I heard repeated tales of eye-catching initiatives launched without much attention to detail.

Image: Age verification checks for online pornography will come into force on 15 July

During his brief tenure as secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS), Mr Hancock launched an online harms white paper - a plan which became a reality three weeks ago.

I'm told that when former lawyer Jeremy Wright arrived at DCMS, he was stunned by the lack of detail.

"How are we defining online harms?" he asked, only to be told that question was still being worked out.

No-one can deny that Mr Hancock gets things done. I'm told he's one of the most effective ministers in cabinet, able to push his projects through even the stiffest opposition.

Even his critics praise his energy and the quality of his team.

Then, in July 2018, Mr Hancock became health secretary and the tone of those muttered criticisms changed.

As one policy expert put it: "The consequences of him playing in DCMS aren't that serious. The consequences of him turning the NHS into an app are incredibly grave."

In Westminster, Mr Hancock is known as the one minister who understands tech... but when your competition is Sajid Javid and Amber Rudd, being the one minister who understands tech is hardly a great achievement.

Since Mr Hancock was appointed health secretary, he has proceeded with customary speed, firing out a blizzard of tech-friendly announcements.

Fibre optic cables for GP practices; a new innovation unit called "NHSX"; an open invitation for AI startups to "revolutionise" the healthcare system.

But on the ground, and inside the Department of Health, many staff are worried.

They wonder why the health secretary is banning pagers, a widely-used piece of equipment with many practical advantages. They fear private companies will be given access to patient data.

There's no doubt the NHS could benefit from new technology and in the name of this cause, some of the sector's most respected figures defend Mr Hancock's approach.

In a speech in March, Dr Ben Goldacre, head of the University of Oxford's evidence-based medicine DataLab, lamented the fact that there was so much resistance to change when "for the first time ever [the secretary of state] is a proper nerd, properly interested in this sort of stuff".

But here's the thing: unless it's backed by deep commitment to the hard, boring work of delivery, digital enthusiasm is often the biggest warning sign of all.

In the long history of the NHS, few documents will be more significant than the green paper which sets out the future of social care.

In April, Mr Hancock announced that the long-awaited paper would be delayed for the fifth time.

I profoundly hope its arrival will mark the moment when British health and social care is brought into the digital age. Then I think about the porn block and feel very, very worried.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.

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