An e-government initiative to provide citizens with access to high-quality local and national information is looking to recruit new partners so that it can pay its own way.

SeamlessUK is a web-based citizens information gateway service spearheaded by Essex County Council, technical partner Fretwell-Downing Informatics and consultancy MDR.

Essex County Council initiated the project with a £865,000 grant from the New Opportunities Fund.

Enough local authorities have already been signed up to cover one tenth of the UK population, including Bromley, Essex and North Lincolnshire, but new members must be found if the scheme is to be self-financing.

Mary Rowlatt, community information network co-ordinator at Essex County Council, said: "One of the grant conditions was to maintain the system three years after funding ceases.

"We are looking for professional partnerships with members such as local authorities and museums which will pay a subscription, but access will be free for end users."

The initiative is in response to the government's deadline to bring the UK online by 2005, promoting the joined up resources of libraries, museums and archives to make it easier for people to find information on subjects ranging from employment benefits to health.

The service will run from January 2003 onwards and be made available over the internet from community access points and delivery channels such as digital TV, web kiosks and handheld devices.

Rowlatt explained that the service would be socially inclusive with a multi-lingual interface and information services delivered nationally through content partners such as BBC Learndirect, NHS Direct Online and UKOnline.

"We will select the definitive sources of information from national and local suppliers cutting down on duplication," said Rowlatt. "The problem with the web is too much information of dubious quality."

SeamlessUK will adhere to common standards such as the e-Government Interoperability Framework, a series of standards across the public sector based on XML schemas for data interchange and presentation.

New members will be able to tailor SeamlessUK to their own requirements, retaining their own identity and branding.

Mark Allcock, product manager at Fretwell-Downing Informatics, said that common standards allow existing data to be harvested.

"It will be a distributed information system with no central database," he explained. "The adoption of common standards such as XML means we can leverage information on legacy systems. The system will be highly scalable with the kit - three Oracle servers and a load balance - based in Leeds."

To join SeamlessUK contact Mark Allcock (0114 281 6040) or Mary Rowlatt (01245 436 524).