UK falls behind in egovernment

The UK has slipped down the global egovernment rankings for the second year running, according to research.

Since 2002, the UK has slipped from sixth to ninth position and is growing more slowly than other developed countries, says the annual international study by consultancy Accenture.

There is a high demand for online services - four in 10 respondents say electronic interaction would be their preferred route - but actual usage lags behind.

The UK's focus on capability rather than take-up means there are a range of services available, but little use is made of them, says Accenture partner Marcus Robinson.

'One of the positive things about the UK is that investment has clearly gone into infrastructure, but there is a big question about whether it has been worth it,' he said.

'The Office of the eEnvoy and successful broadband roll out show that undoubtedly investment has gone in but the question is "so what?" If there aren't services citizens want to use, or if the services are there and citizens don't want to use them, then arguably it's been in vain.'

Three-quarters of UK citizens in the survey said they would use egovernment more if it saved them time and money.

But fewer than 10 per cent normally conduct government transactions online and four in 10 have never visited a government website.

'Online services have to be more convenient and attractive or they just won't be used,' said Robinson.

It is significant that France has overtaken the UK for the first time, he says.

'France used to have very low internet penetration because they had the Minitel system [a public information service]. In the UK the investment has gone into infrastructure and now it needs to go into developing services people want to use,' he said.

Five thousand regular internet users in 12 countries contributed to the research, alongside a quantitative assessment of the maturity of egovernment services in 22 countries. Canada heads the global ranking, followed by Singapore and the US in joint second.