UK's top-rated e-services not being used, says report

A faster broadband connection would speed take-up of e-services, says the OECD

The UK has the third most sophisticated e-government service in Europe, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Only Austria and Portugal surpassed the UK in the maturity of their citizen and business-facing government services.

But the report shows that although quality services are on offer, citizens are not using them as much as elsewhere. Of the UK population, 32 per cent of citizens use e-government services – which means it comes 11th – lower than the EU average of 34 per cent.

"Compared to the high availability of e-government services, citizens’ take-up remains low even for leading countries, suggesting there is room to harness more efficiencies from e-service delivery," the report says.

The UK has worse broadband coverage than other EU countries – one of the key factors measured by the report.

The government plans to remedy this problem by mandating a 2MB/s universal broadband rollout, funded by a 50p tax on all phone bills.

The Conservatives have said recently that should they win power in an election next summer, they will scrap the tax and leave the broadband rollout to market forces.