Whitehall is moving on with its local e-government programme, issuing a new consultation ahead of the next phase of its IEG (Implementing Electronic Government) process. A consultation paper, published on 7 May 2003, lays out how councils are to assess their progress towards e-government. Councils will receive full guidance on submitting their IEG statements at the end of June after the consultation closes.
Taken as a whole, the IEG statements from councils are intended to help monitor local progress towards e-service delivery, and the 2005 e-government targets. Whitehall also uses the IEG process to assess how councils are deploying funds it has made available for e-government. If a council fails to fill in their IEG statements, the Government has the option to refuse funding.
Councils will be asked to show how they are performing according to different elements of the national strategy in areas which include: development of access channels to services, connections to infrastructure such as the Government Gateway, compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, and the appointment of e-champions.
They will also have to assess their progress according to the national Best Value Performance Indicators for e-government and are asked to outline a forecast of expenditure up to 2006.
The consultation marks the repeat of a process run by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister over the past two years.
The ODPM emphasises that successful statements qualifying councils for further funding will be those that adhere to its national strategy for local e-government published in November last year.
The deadline for submitting final IEG statements is set at 31 October 2003. Comments on the draft document should be sent in to the ODPM by 9 June 2003.
Quelle: Kablenet
