29 Jul 2008
The success of the Transformational Government (TG) strategy will depend on delivering quality public services to the socially excluded, many of whom may not be able to use a computer, according to MPs.
The TG plan aims to improve public services in the UK by improving information sharing between government departments and offering more services online.
But a new report by lobby group Eurim and a group of MPs says that a pragmatic approach would be to serve about 80 per cent of service users adequately through a simpler online system, and devise a different set of systems – including face-to-face contact – for those unable or unwilling to use technology.
A spate of data breaches has also undermined the public's trust in government handling of personal information – the report says service providers will have to work hard to restore staff and public faith in the benefits of the programme.
The experts also found that some services would be best delivered by third-party organisations.
"In particular, external delivery may not only introduce innovation and efficiencies, but may also reach more people because their independence from government may address any perceived conflicts of interest in personal information," says the report.
There are benefits in "sous-veillance" – the public carefully monitoring service delivery performance and posting evidence of that performance online – but responses must be constructive and not knee-jerk, said the MPs.
A recent Cabinet Office report on Transformational Government highlighted success stories such as the number of people renewing their car tax online which has now passed the 10 million mark, while uptake of filing tax returns online increased 30 per cent last year.
And a project to streamline government information on web sites has seen 712 extraneous sites marked for closure as the information is moved to central services such as Directgov.
The EURIM/MPs lobby group is right to highlight the issue of delivery of services to the disadvantaged, but the biggest change in service delivery is still to come and that is from local authorities completing one of the Transformation Agenda's main tasks to re-engineer processes and join up departmental lines of business to improve efficiencies.
This sort of thing can take some years to complete and doesn't hit the headlines as much, but incremental changes, like being able to make a telephone query on any issue and having it dealt with quickly, are starting to make a big difference to people without Internet access. It's clear that the telephone will remain a major channel for people, and its effective use must be considered. Transformation is rather a high level concept, but the benefits from well thought-out changes can be huge. for example, when a small authority in a remote area with many disadvantaged people links up financial processes with electronic payment systems, this enables local people to pay for school dinners or leisure services by phone instead of making difficult round trips to do so - all the more important as living costs rise. There's a lot more to be done but gradual progress is being made in reaching out to people, even if it can't be called transformation yet.
Posted by: Val Earle 31 Jul 2008
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