The UK government is sounding confident about progress in local councils to deliver services online - but do local people know that?
Local authorities in England are now on the home straight to meet the target to be 100% e-enabled by the end of this year, Local e-Government Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has announced. He said: 'The results from July's Implementing Electronic Government returns mark the turn into the home straight for the local e-government programme.
... from e-Government: councils reach the home straight at xPRESS Digest, with a link to the original release.
The programme has overseen a sea change in the electronic enablement of council services from just 26% in March 2002 to 77% in March 2005, with e-government already making an essential contribution towards the Government's efficiency targets.' In nearly 200 councils, citizens can now go online to submit planning applications or calculate their benefits entitlement. Near universal online coverage is now offered by councils in England for renewing library books, accessing public transport information and viewing council reports and committee minutes. Mr Fitzpatrick added: 'To provide further background, I am today releasing for publication a status report which offers a detailed analysis and regional breakdown of IEG progress. The report underlines that the December 2005 target is well within the reach of local authorities, and reaffirms the huge potential for efficiency gains. The report also points to further areas of work up to the end of the local e- government programme in March 2006. This includes additional support for councils to help them improve the take-up of e-enabled services and realise the full benefits of their investments.'
That last point is clearly significant. Egov Monitor reports that while a study of council websites shows that they are increasingly important as sources of public information and efficiency gains in service delivery, they are not being promoted sufficiently:
According to Martin Greenwood, Programme Manager for Socitm Insight, information emerging from the website take-up service suggests that councils should be doing more to promote take-up: "We know from the e-citizen national project that there is a whole population out there ready to use council websites, and that getting them to do so will bring tangible benefits in terms of efficiency gains and increased satisfaction with the council. However, it seems that councils have to date invested little in promotion, concentrating perhaps on getting the website right as a facility to offer. Now is the time to change priorities."
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