IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Wer in Weimar wohnt und in Erfurt arbeitet, scheiterte häufig an den Öffnungszeiten der Stadtverwaltung, wenn er sein Auto zulassen wollte. Und Frau Meier aus Nohra musste gar nach Apolda fahren und das nahe Weimar links liegen lassen. Das soll anders werden. Die Stadtverwaltung habe gestern beschlossen, ihm Rahmen der Verwaltungskooperation sich an fünf Projekten zu beteiligen - darunter eine gemeinsame Zulassungsstelle, bestätigte gestern OB Stefan Wolf (SPD).

“Interoperability is currently the hot topic in e-government,” notes Themis Tambouris, the project manager of the IST programme-funded project EU-PUBLI.com. “With our system a public administration would be able to integrate its services with those of other providers operating in other fields and in other countries securely over the Internet.”

The unique facility of its kind is expected to become operational in a month's time and will eliminate the need of personal visits to both the offices by the license-holders or their representatives to get the work done.

“This is in line with the Dubai Strategic Plan which calls for greater transparency and accountability in all government sectors,” Salem Khamis Al-Shair, eServices director at Dubai eGovernment, said. “Our integration platform has been utilised effectively by other government departments for seamless transactions and will now be used to create a secure, unified credit reporting solution.

The MoU, which was signed by Hamad Fadhel Al Mazrooei, CEO, DC World, and Salem Al Shair, Director, eServices, Dubai eGovernment, calls on the two parties to share their 'knowledge, capabilities, best practices and services to expedite the implementation of the identified areas of cooperation.'

The visiting delegation included Faisal Al Mansouri, Director of Revenue Development Department at the Ministry of Finance, Emad Ahmed Abdul Wahabm e-Dirham Project Manager at the Ministry, Ahmed Al Naqbi, Senior Manager, Channels and Electronic Banking Services at National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Rania Al Fayed, e-Dirham Project Manager at NBAD.

H.E. Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Director General of the General Information Authority welcomed the visiting delegation and expressed readiness of GIA to work closely with the Ministry of Finance to enhance electronic payment in the UAE and support the adoption of the second generation of e-Dirham in all government entities in the UAE.

The two parties were involved in a series of discussions and exchanged views with an aim to strengthen each other's eGovernment infrastructure.

Union National Bank (UNB), one of the leading domestic banks in the UAE, has recently announced a tie up with Dubai eGovernment to offer the direct debit payment facility to account holders of the bank. All account holders of Union National Bank can now pay for various Dubai Government services and private sector services in real time as their accounts are directly debited with immediate updation in records.

The governments of the UK and Estonia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing that they will collaborate on digital government initiatives in future.

Estonia is recognised as a world leader in e-government. Nine out of ten tax returns in the country are filled out online, as were a quarter of votes in its 2011 elections.

Cheshire CC and four local primary care trusts (PCTs) are implementing a new IT system to carry out joint health and social care assessments of elderly people. The system, said to be a first for a local authority, meets the government's requirements for assessing patients and sharing information across health and social care boundaries.

Caroline Stanger, who is directing the programme for both councils, said the project will initially focus on sharing transaction services. She confirmed the councils were hoping to create a formal joint venture with a commercial body to develop a programme that could eventually be used by other public bodies. Cambridgeshire County Council has budgeted to save £1 million through the project in 2008-09, she added.

At the same time, government ministers unveiled sweeping legislation in the form of the Serious Crime Bill, which contains measures to allow widespread data sharing between public and private sectors for the first time.