The Dutch government needs to do more to ensure citizens without strong digital skills can still access public services, according to a report from the national ombudsman over e-government.
Citizens have no choice - they've only one government to turn to - so the state needs to put users central, especially when it comes to digitisation of services, the report said. The focus should be on ensuring citizens have what they need to communicate with the public authorities. Citizens should not feel forced to use a digital channel if they don't want to or unable to.
This means each public authority must consider the needs and skills of the people using its services and try to meet these - whether the public is young or old, well- or little-educated.
The ombudsman issued four recommendations for e-government services. First, the government needs to take responsibility, for the design and execution of the service delivery process. Second, the government needs to ensure that its infrastructure, both digital and non-digital, is designed to be accessible for every citizen. Third, it needs to be solution-oriented, so any problems with the digital system are fixed, and fourth, be user-friendly, where good service delivery is always the starting point.
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Quelle/Source: telecompaper, 08.12.2017
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