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A new report from the UK's National Audit Office (NAO) said that most services provided on-line do not allow citizens to carry out common transactions with departments electronically, such as applying for driving licences and claiming and receiving benefits, Sir John Bourn, the head of the NAO, reported to Parliament.
Although the UK government plans to have 100 percent of its services on-line by 2005, with over half of its 524 services departments already on the Net, the NAO said that there are risks to successful implementation of e-government.
First among these risks is that the British public may see no advantage in accessing services electronically unless departments give users some incentive to do so, such as cost savings, free services or faster service delivery.
"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," Bourn said.
"Otherwise the considerable potential gains in departments' efficiency will not be delivered and large amounts of public money will have been wasted," he added.
The NAO's report also said that individuals without computers or Internet access will be excluded from the benefits of e-government. The agency pointed out that only seven percent of those in the lowest income group have Internet access compared to 71 percent of those on higher incomes. This could leave many of the UK's most needy citizens without access to services through what are expected to be the most efficient channels.
Finally, government departments may not provide the services that people actually want on-line, the NAO warned.
E-government requires a fundamental change in the way departments operate, and implementing it will require strong leadership and high quality staff training. And departments are expected to encourage and enable the public to use electronic services because service delivery on line is more efficient, but these same departments are unclear about the efficiency improvements IT can deliver, the report claimed.
Other notable remarks in the NAO's report said that departments need to produce better business cases supporting spending on IT projects, to have improved IT project management skills, and to better measure the benefits achieved by IT projects. The report also recommends that the Office of the E Envoy should work with departments to accelerate the dissemination and adoption of good practice on how to encourage citizens to take up services available on-line.
Similar to the UK's ambitious plan to put all government services on-line by 2005, Ireland also is striving to make the government accessible over the Net through its Information Society Action Plan. The newest action plan from the Irish government is expected to be published in mid-April.
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