Interview: outgoing eEnvoy Andrew Pinder

The Office of the eEnvoy (OEE), formed in 1999 to promote online government and encourage internet use by business and the public, is no more.

Outgoing eEnvoy Andrew Pinder, after more than four years in the job, will be succeeded by the new head of egovernment, Ian Watmore, who will take over the more Whitehall-focused eGovernment Unit.

The Prime Minister's targets for the OEE included ensuring all government services are available electronically by 2005 and making the UK the best place for ecommerce and the most competitive and extensive broadband market in the world.

Pinder says the UK's position has improved dramatically since he took the job in October 2000, and all the Prime Minister's targets have been either met already or are on course to deliver by the deadline next year.

'This is not just about me - the UK has done very well over last few years both as a country and as a government,' Pinder told Computing.

When the OEE was created, the UK was behind all the other major economies in understanding internet access.

'The price of our dial-up access was high, broadband wasn't even an issue because we were right down at the bottom of the international table, the traditional picture of the internet geek was pervasive - primarily male, primarily young, primarily prosperous. Virtually no government services were online, and business hadn't really got a grip on the internet at all,' said Pinder.

'Since then we've seen a five-fold increase in the home internet market, well over half of homes have internet access, and we have opened 7,200 UK Online centres in High Streets including every library, so there is internet access within a few miles of everybody,' he said.

A lot of work has gone into ensuring the gap in internet use between rich and poor and old and young, is as small as possible. As a result, the UK is one of the most digitally-inclusive societies in the world, says Pinder.

'We have put a lot of effort into that and so have voluntary sector organisations like Age Concern,' he said.

Ninety-six per cent of people now know where they can access the internet. And a 2003 survey concluded the UK has a higher percentage of companies doing business online than any other G7 country, including the US.

'About 37 per cent of companies use the internet to enhance their business, compared with 35 per cent in the US,' said Pinder.

'We also looked at the size of the IT sector compared to other G7 countries, both in terms of employment and in how much money they contribute to the economy, and again the UK is the largest in the G7 in percentage terms,' he said.

'So, yes, there has been some offshoring, but this is still a vibrant sector in the UK.'

Broadband has been a key growth area. There are now around 3.8 million people connected, a 15,000 per cent increase compared to 1999, and 43,000 new connections are added every week.

'The other success story has been to promote competition in telecoms and though BT is still the dominant player it has the smallest market share of any incumbent anywhere in the industrial world, so we have managed to develop a competitive sector with a lot of choice,' said Pinder.

The digital divide, security and spam are challenging issues which remain.

'Security, trust and identity still need to get sorted out,' said Pinder.

The Home Office's identity cards scheme could have a role to play, as could authentication via organisations such as banks.

'It is not the intention with the ID cards scheme but one of the things being considered at the moment is how to get spin-offs for ecommerce. We have also had conversations with the banks about what role they could play. We need to make progress on the whole trust area - this is not just an issue for government, it's an issue for everybody,' said Pinder.

The biggest challenge now is encouraging the government to use technology more extensively and to change way it does business.

'The business process re-engineering era is about to really get going in government. It's not just about the internet, it's about using technology more intelligently and government needs to do that to respond to the Gershon efficiency recommendations,' said Pinder.

Another major change in the last four years has been in people's attitudes.

'This stuff is now central to lots of departments' agendas. Four or five years ago ministers and senior civil servants weren't really focusing on this and they didn't see the opportunities - now they do,' said Pinder.

The OEE is producing a final report, to be published in the next few weeks, looking at what should be done to carry on its work. It is a far-reaching and thoughtful report, says Pinder.

'The thing that has changed more than anything else is that around the world the UK is regarded as a world leader, both in egovernment and more importantly as a thought leader,' he said.

That was then and this is now

1999:

• the UK lagged behind in internet and was one of the most expensive places in the world for dial-up access
  
• Broadband was non-existent - 24th in the OECD league with take-up at 0.1 per cent
  
• internet users were predominantly young, wealthy and male
  
• no transactional services were available online
  
• the UK was sixth in the G7 for business use of IT
  

2004:

• internet use has increased five-fold and the UK is the cheapest place in the world to use the web
  
• 99.5 per cent of the population live within 10km of a public internet access point
  
• the UK is one of the most digitally-inclusive societies in the world
  
• business use of IT is pervasive
  
• three-quarters of government services are online including millions of transactions each year
  
• the IT sector accounts for a higher share of employment in the UK than in any other G7 country and is also the most productive in terms of economic impact
  

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