The London wide e-government agenda is "under threat" due to a shortfall in funding, a crisis which could mean that high profile IT projects are scrapped, a report by the capital's assembly has revealed. e-Government in London, a report by the assembly's Economic and Social Development Committee says that while much progress has been made so far, projects aiming to achieve greater information sharing between public bodies in order to deliver improved services could be jeopardised.
"After a promising start the London e-government agenda is under threat due to insufficient funding," it warns, highlighting that in 2003 capital wide initiatives received hardly any funding from Whitehall.
In 2002-3 the Greater London Authority got 4% of a £60m total while this year funds were sent straight to London councils. This year the capital's e-government agency, London Connects, received just £200,000 despite applying for £1.82m.
"We do not believe this is fair given that London's economy accounts for around a fifth of the UK's total Gross Domestic Product and subsidises public expenditure at a national and local level in the rest of the UK by up to £22.6bn a year," says the committee.
Plans to develop a London wide smart card combining transport with other public services may not go ahead, says the report, and there has been "limited progress" on other initiatives such as an interagency network.
The smart card would build on the existing "Oyster Card" which people use to pay for city wide public transport. The idea is that when further developed it would provide an "entry token" for health, benefits, education leisure, libraries and kiosk services. It would "remove" the need for people to identify themselves when accessing these services.
The committee calls on Mayor Ken Livingstone to give more support and leadership and recommends that other sources of funding, such as the EU and private sector, are used.
A spokesperson for the committee said that London Connects is now in talks with Whitehall in an attempt to get more money.
Quelle: Kablenet
