The government is also on track to save a cumulative GBP 1.2 billion (US$ 2 billion) by 2015, the Minister said. “Our digital-by-default agenda is part of our long-term economic plan to tackle the deficit we inherited. I’m pleased to announce today that we expect to save at least GBP 500 million (US$ 820 million) from IT spend this year, on top of the GBP 500 million (US$ 820 million) we saved from government’s IT spend last year and GBP 250 million (US$ 410 million) the year before,” he added.
Part of this plan is to digitise 25 major public services by 2015. On average, an online service is 20 times cheaper than a phone transaction, 30 times cheaper than by post and 50 times cheaper than face-to-face.
Digitising services will not only save the government money, but will also improve the quality of services for users. For example, digitising the paper-based ‘last power of attorney’, which allows people to appoint someone to take decisions for them if they lose capacity, will bring efficiencies some of which can be passed to customers through reduced application fees. The UK Government has already reduced the fees for this services this year from GBP 130 (US$ 214) to GBP 110 (US$ 181).
“Back in 2010 our digital offering was limited at best and government IT was a by-word for disaster. There are still challenges but with the help of the Government Digital Service I am determined that the UK will be the G8’s most digital government by next year,” the Minister highlighted.
Countries across the world have started looking at UK’s Digital Strategy for inspiration. New Zealand recently launched in beta its own version of the award-winning GOV.UK, the UK’s single government domain, based on the open source code.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Medha Basu
Quelle/Source: futureGov, 13.01.2014
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