UK e-government must target socially excluded groups: The UK's e-government programme must focus on social and digital inclusion if it is to be successful, according to new research from the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA). The report, "eGovernment: Reaching socially excluded groups?", says that for e-government to be effective and efficient, it must reach people who need local authority services most; these are often disadvantaged members of the community such as the unemployed, people with disabilities, people with literacy difficulties, and the elderly. "There are serious gaps in understanding the diverse needs of citizens and how to make e-government inclusive," said the IDeA. Another barrier to bridging the digital divide is that social inclusion strategies rarely focus on the use of ICT (information and communications technologies). "E-government strategies rarely consider the needs of people who have become socially excluded, and social inclusion strategies rarely consider the role of ICT," concludes the report, which outlines a number of recommendations aimed at making e-government more inclusive. The report can be downloaded (PDF format) here.
Online compliance helps Hawaiian businesses: The state of Hawaii has just made life easier for businesses with the launch of a new e-government service called Hawaii Compliance Express. The service, available through the eHawaii.gov portal, aims to help companies that do business with the government to more easily demonstrate their compliance with state business regulations. Until now, firms needed to fill out paper forms for the Department of Taxation, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and the Internal Revenue Service, and paper certificates showing compliance would be issued in person to vendors attending state offices. Hawaii Compliance Express allows businesses to register online and to acquire an electronic certificate proving compliance with all applicable laws. The service automatically updates the certificate and keeps it current as long as the business continues to comply with the applicable laws.
Netherlands to track citizens from birth: The Dutch government is establishing a database that will track citizens from birth until death. The Ministry of Health said the database, due to launch in January 2007, would open an electronic "dossier" for each child at birth. The dossier will contain health and family information, with school records and police records (if applicable) being added over the individual's lifetime. Each person's record will be given a Citizens Service Number, which will attach to the file throughout the citizen's life. The ministry said that various government agencies will contribute to the dossier, but no private citizens or companies will have access to the records. A ministry spokesman said the system would improve the sharing of information between agencies, enabling government organisations to alert each other to children with potential problems by flagging the individual dossiers of children.
US government satisfaction rating improves: Citizen satisfaction with US federal government websites reached an all-time high in the third quarter of 2005, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The index, published quarterly by the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan Business School, grew by 1.2 percent overall in the period to 73.5, a 3.2 percent increase from the same period in 2004 and slightly ahead of the current satisfaction rating for private sector websites of 73.1. Thirteen government agency websites achieved a score of 80 or higher out of 100; 17 scored less than 70 points. Among the highest-rated federal sites were the National Institutes of Health sites, the Social Security Administration's Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Costs site and the Social Security Benefits application site. More details of the study are available from the ACSI website.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews, 21.09.2005
