Despite some successes, the NAO says there is still much work to do
before public services can be delivered electronically. James
Rogers reports.
IT professionals in the public sector may be doing all they can to
meet Whitehall targets for delivering electronic services, but a
major cultural change is needed to make Tony Blair's e-government
dream a reality, according to a National Audit Office study.
Last week the NAO published a report entitled Better Public
Services Through E-Government. It highlighted the fact that central
government has still got some way to go if it is to meet the 2005
target for delivering 100% of public services online.
Auditors found that just over half of the 524 services that
departments routinely provide are online, but most only offer
information. Moreover, just seven of the services surveyed provide
grants or benefits online, and none collect revenue.
John Bourn, head of the NAO, said, "We have found examples of
innovative practice but there is much to do to realise the full
potential from using Internet technology and ensure a sufficient
number of people use public services delivered electronically."
The report found that there are major cultural issues that need to
be resolved before the UK reaches the 2005 deadline. Of 20
government departments surveyed, 19 reported that civil servants'
ability to use IT needs significant development, and 15 departments
said further technological improvements are needed to update
existing IT systems.
Lack of adequate resources, which has so often plagued major public
sector IT projects, also appears to be hindering the growth of
e-government. The report revealed that 19 departments have called
for more resources to support IT-enabled change programmes.
Fourteen departments also said that more reliable assessments of
e-government costs and benefits are required.
The Government will say it is resolving these problems with the
Gateway Review process, but the NAO believes there is room for
improvement in this area.
Auditors acknowledged that the Gateway Reviews are an important
initiative but called on the Office of Government Commerce, which
is overseeing the scheme, to continue working with departments to
remedy shortcomings in IT strategies. These include the development
of better project management skills and more effective measurement
of the benefits achieved by IT.
Even if project management runs perfectly, success still depends on
users being able to access the service. The Government has yet to
address this problem.
Research found that only 7% of UK citizens in the lowest income
group have Internet access, compared to 71% of those on higher
incomes. For these reasons, the NAO urged the Government to promote
key services which meet the needs of specific groups, such as the
elderly.
Even if people have Internet access, e-government services will
still need to attract their interest. "The major challenge is to
get services online and to encourage and enable people to use
them," said Bourn. "Otherwise the considerable potential gains in
departments' efficiency will not be delivered and large amounts of
public money will have been wasted."
However, it is not all doom and gloom. Auditors identified some
examples of best practice, such as the Land Registry for England
and Wales, which provides its land registry direct service to
businesses via a secure extranet. The service offers a range of
facilities to companies, such as enabling them to view computerised
land registers.
The NAO report said there is a pressing need for the Government to
share the experience of implementing trail-blazing IT projects.
Auditors are now urging the Office of the E-Envoy to work with
departments to foster best practice and encourage citizens to take
up online services.
E-envoy Andrew Pinder welcomed the NAO's recommendations and has
promised to work with the Government to implement them. However, if
they fail, e-government could become the most costly chapter in the
book of public sector IT disasters.
The National Audit Office's recommendations
For Government Departments:- Set targets and effective strategies for the take-up of
services online
- Actively market e-services to the public
- Tackle the barriers to civil servants using IT
- Adopt an approach to IT-enabled change that realises efficiency
gains
For the Office of Government Commerce:
- Build on Gateway Review results to improve departments'
management of IT projects
For the Office of the E-envoy:
- Accelerate the dissemination and adoption of good practice by
departments on how to encourage citizens to take up services
available online
- Develop a cost methodology to assess the potential to improve
operational efficiency and customer benefits through IT-enabled
business change and to measure its achievement