Research firm TNS said that, while use of e-government in Britain has increased this year to 18%, up from 13% in 2002, this is still way behind the global average of 31%. Scandinavian countries still lead the field in e-government use, with more than six out of ten adults in Denmark (63%) and Norway (62%) using government services online. Canada and the US also have a high take-up of e-government services, with 51% and 44% respectively, while France with 35% take-up and Germany with 26% are also way ahead of the UK.
TNS said it is encouraging to see increasing take-up of e-government services in Britain, despite the lag, especially since growth in the use of e-government has slowed in many other markets this year.
"The large amounts of investment by the government are likely to have contributed to this growth but there is still a long way to go in order to bring Britain in line with levels of e-government usage in other markets," said Susannah Quick, director at TNS' Polling, Social and Government division.
The survey is the latest blow to the UK's e-government efforts, and follows a number of recent reports that suggest wide variations in progress among local authorities towards meeting the 2005 e-government deadline for putting services online.
A Smartgov report, produced by The Work Foundation earlier this year, revealed that a number of the e-government services already online are not being used. It recommended that encouraging more citizens to use online services should be the number one priority for the government, even if it means pushing back the 2005 deadline.
Quelle: NetImperative, 09.12.2003
