Government IT managers group Socitm believes that "a
significant slice" of the 2.5% efficiency gains the Treasury
expects local government to make can come from self-service
websites.
The Efficiency Review, prompted by last year's Gershon Report, has
given rise to new incentives to drive council website development.
Socitm said in its briefing paper, Efficiency, transformation and
the Council Website, that Councils need to exploit the efficiencies
of "citizen self-service" via websites.
"A slice of the annual 2.5% efficiency gain expected of local
authorities over the next three years could potentially come from
transferring activity from mediated services [in person or on the
phone] to self-service websites," the briefing said.
However, this goal would only be achieved if websites had
well-developed transactional capacities, were simple to find, easy
to use and were promoted effectively, the briefing said.
The Socitm paper summarised what services councils should consider
putting online and the reasons people return to websites they have
used. It also detailed the best performing councils websites in
England and how well council websites are performing on priority
outcomes.