UK should focus on boosting use of e-services: report: Increasing the usage of e-services should be the top priority in the British government's imminent review of e-government, according to a new report by the Work Foundation. The "SmartGov" report, sponsored by Microsoft and PricewaterhouseCoopers, argues that encouraging the use of on-line services should be prioritised, even at the expense of the government's target of having all services e-enabled by 2005. The study's authors say that the government should focus on exceeding existing targets for usage of e-government services, and this aim should be supported by improved "customer segmentation" and marketing, and by forcing some e-enabled groups to use e-services. "Some of the services government has to put on-line to meet its 100 percent target -- from burial at sea to potato seed classification -- begin to look a little peculiar when barely 3 percent of those eligible are filing their tax returns on-line," said report co-author James Crabtree.
Singapore launches EUR650 million e-government plan: The government of Singapore is planning to invest SGD1.3 billion (EUR653 million) in the second phase of its e-government plan. Launching its "e-Government Action Plan II" (eGAP II), Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the aim was to put almost all government services on-line by 2006. A recent annual Global E-Government Survey by Accenture ranked Singapore second out of 22 countries, a reflection of the fact that Singapore has to date e-enabled 1,600 public services. Indeed, the deputy prime minister noted that, according to a government survey, about 75 percent of Singapore citizens who needed to engage in a transaction with the government in the past year had done so via electronic means. Among the stated objectives of eGAP II are to have 90 percent of the government's customers -- citizens and businesses -- using e-services at least once a year and to have 80 percent of users satisfied with the general quality of e-services. "Ultimately, eGAP II is not about IT, but about changing the approach to government," Lee added.
Jordan aims to bring ICT to schools: The government of Jordan has launched the "Jordan Education Initiative," a collaboration with a group of high-tech companies that are members of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The pilot scheme will see ICT and e-learning introduced in 96 schools throughout the country, with a view to eventually extending the initiative to all 3,000 of Jordan's schools. Among the companies that have agreed to participate in the project are Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Siemens and Sun Microsystems. Education Minister Khalid Touqan said the program formed part of a five-year educational reform plan that aims to modernise curricula and teaching methods and to place more emphasis on critical skills and innovative thinking. Alongside the launch of the initiative for schools, ICT Minister Fawwaz Zu'bi presented a plan to bring broadband to Jordan's universities by this September.
US on-line tax service gets an upgrade: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the US has improved its popular on-line tax filing system. The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) allows taxpayers to pay federal taxes on-line, at www.eftps.gov, over the phone or via special software provided by tax preparation experts. In 2002, the IRS collected USD1.5 trillion through electronic means. The improvements to the Web site include an ability to schedule four tax payments in one session, as opposed to the previous facility to make just one payment at a time. Access to 16 months of payment history is now available to users, along with the capability to search, print and download payment history by date, tax type, amount and tax form. In addition, taxpayers can now change the bank account they want the payment to be deducted from by phone. The upgraded site also features links to the sites of states that have electronic tax services in place.
Australian councils frustrated by slow Net connections: Local councils in Western Australia (WA) are planning to seek compensation from the state government on account of slow Internet connections. The state government no longer sends hard copies of documents to local authorities, which means that the councils have to download and print lengthy documents such as annual reports. In some rural areas of WA, the download speed is up to four times slower than the speed in some cities. Dundas Shire Council says that it is considering asking the state government to compensate it for the cost of printing documents. The chief executive of the council, Brian Willoughby, said such costs could amount to thousands of dollars for small councils. The Local Government Association (LGA) of WA says the situation exemplifies the growing frustrations of rural communities about the quality of telecommunication services.
Quelle: electricnews.net
