Sort of but not really. Just keep voting in progressives that believe in government until the bureaucracy gets the message that it pays to be progressive and fix things.
In my experience, there is a correlation between parties that follow the science, invest in education, and create useful software.
My critique is towards people that gives up and says that governments cannot make good software. And, that is false. It will never be perfect, like anything else, but it can be good.
As a US -> UK immigrant:
1. This is true.
2. This is made harder or easier by the complexity of the underlying abstractions it is trying to model.
I suspect the software that the NHS has to calculate how much to charge medical patients is very simple.
If we elect politicians in favor of simplifying government operations, and they can actually succeed, then it follows that government software would naturally simplify as well.
Note: This isn't necessarily the same as reducing government's role.
1. It's very difficult for voters to know how much a given politician will prioritize digital services.
2. Even if a politician appears to have a good digital strategy, will they implement it well?
3. Most decisions about public admin software are made by bureaucrats who aren't elected anyways.
4. Most elections will likely have more important issues than public admin software. Although I agree it probably does have huge returns on investment.