The government is to launch a £5m campaign to encourage
more citizens to use the online services of their local
authorities.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) aims to increase
the take-up of local e-government services in England, after
research showed that 46% of the population would use such services
if they were aware of them.
The "Lose the Queues" campaign begins with a free half-day
conference for all local authorities in London on 13 December,
followed by an official launch in early 2006.
It will be designed to encourage local authorities to focus more
sharply on take-up, as the ODPM believes councils have not done
enough to promote online services after making them available.
The campaign is aimed at all citizens, although the government
says research shows that the 46% of people likely to use online
services are from two demographic groups.
The first one is made up of high-income earners aged under 55,
and keen users of new technologies. This group makes up 16% of the
population.
The second group is made up of people who are comfortable with
technology but have no strong views either way about using
e-services.
This last group of people are typically single, highly qualified
and with good access to technology. This group makes up 30% of the
adult population.
To help target marketing messages for all demographic groups,
the ODPM says stakeholder groups will be set up by councils this
December.
These groups will bring together local authority communications
professionals and e- government practitioners to help plan online
usage campaigns among the public.