The findings of the report are based on a sample of 100 Implementing Electronic Government (IEG3) Statements, representing more than a quarter of all returns from English local authorities, which councils had to submit to the Deputy Prime Minister's Office by 10 November. While some local authorities, including Macclesfield and Woking Borough councils, are confident of meeting the target, some neglected to address the 2005 target question at all.
E-gov monitor found that many local government IT heads are putting off e-government projects until they know the outcome of various central government-driven pathfinder projects currently underway, which could perhaps offer cheaper, and more customised solutions.
It also found that a number of council IT departments are currently either indifferent, sceptical, or simply have no demand at this stage for the technologies that have been aggressively marketed to them by government and industry.
These include interactive digital television services (IDTV), smartcard systems, e-democracy tools and Whitehall's own flagship e-gov project, the Government Gateway.
E-gov monitor said that progress with IDTV services in local government appears to be particularly slow. Some councils have stated that digital TV is not a priority access channel for development, while one reports that IDTV services do not, at this stage, "seem a likely possibility".
The E-gov monitor report comes just several days after survey results, published by Oracle in conjunction with the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE), revealed that over half of local authorities are not on target to meet the 2005 e-government deadline.
Barriers identified by local authorities included financing, cultural resistance, data management problems and the "sheer complexity of the task".
Quelle: NetImperative, 18.11.2003
