Birmingham has the most advanced egovernment in Europe, according to a study by the Spanish university of Zaragoza.
The study rated 35 European cities on the breadth and depth of the online services they provide, the level of e-democracy that has been developed, and how much elected officials use it to communicate. A spokeswoman for Brimingham City Council says it is very pleased to have come out top.
‘We have developed a vision to deliver significant, sustainable improvements in service, of which e-government is one such area,’ she said.
Other UK cities including London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Leeds, dominated the rest of the top 10. However, Cardiff and Belfast did less well, coming 17th and last respectively, out of the 35.
The study concluded that all the cities involved in the study had made a great deal of progress towards delivering e-government in the past 10 years, but says that outside the UK and Ireland, few cities are making any real progress in e-democracy.
‘Even though most local governments have developed some services online, most of the web sites analysed place little emphasis on e-democracy. As a result, e-government does not seem to be reshaping governance in the short term, but instead is re-inforcing current structures,’ the report said.
Autor: James Brown
Quelle: Computing, 26.07.2005
