eGovernment in the UK Dr Shaun Topham Sheffield City Council

What I intend to cover. What I will try to cover – The background to the development of eGovernment in the UK- how the Government is approaching the task. How Sheffield has taken this agenda forward.

Prime Minister’s Target All services that are capable of being online……. are to be online by MARCH How is he to do this?

“Running the Country” “Running the country” can be looked at in terms of a mixture of three models.  Hierarchy – the Government issuing orders and controlling from above.  Market – Leaving it to the market forces  Networks- utilising formal and informal networks to help co-ordinate activities

Hierarchy The UK Government is very centralised and prescriptive when it comes to eGovernment.  Budgets come from central government – “with strings attached”  Direct instructions are given to the Local Authorities in the form of an “Implementing Electronic Government” Statement which every Local Authority has to comply with.  In the “Gershon Review” they are expected to make anticipated savings by moving to new channels…. and so budgets are cut by 5%!

Supportive Actions A programme of National Projects. “The projects have pulled together the knowledge and experience of councils, central government, the private sector and others to define and deliver key priority services and building blocks to help councils deliver the local e-government vision and meet the Gershon efficiency agenda.” Competitions such as “eInnovations” and the “Invest to Save Budget”

What I intend to cover.

The Market  Across Europe, total government ICT spending will increase from EUR 87 billion this year to € 94bn by  However, growth will vary significantly from country to country and sector to sector, and UK spending will represent almost a quarter -23% of the total European spend. With total expenditure estimated to reach € 21bn, the UK public sector spends about 40% more on ICT than its German or French counterparts,

Market  This high level of spending is mainly due to big investments made in e-government and back office infrastructure, such as the € 8.9bn Connecting for Health initiative, the € 5.6bn Criminal Justice IT programme and the €5.9bn Defence Information Infrastructure project but Local Government is one of the three areas likely to lead in the coming years alongside Justice and Health..  Per capita investment on public sector ICT is € 336 in the UK. "There are other countries spending similar amounts per capita or as a proportion of their GDPs, but they have smaller economies than the UK”, “From the larger countries the UK is by far the biggest spender and has emerged as the leader in breadth and diversity of its investment in public sector IT",

Outsourcing and purchasing from the private sector.  There are sharp differences between the nature of the spending in the UK and other European countries. For instance, 37% of the total UK public sector ICT spend goes to external services such as consultancy and outsourcing, while the European average is only 16%.  The use of external service providers is set to grow further in the UK with public sector IT and business process outsourcing to grow by 78% in  an annual spend of €8.9bn by

Networks Large numbers of Formal and informal networks form the basis for co-operation. From the Local Government Association to the Society of Information Technology Managers, to small informal networks. Partnership working is strongly encouraged in the IEG Statements. Specialisation is encouraged in the Gershon Review,

Setting Processes for Electronic Signature

Engaging the Citizen

Kiosk

Sheffield SafetyNet Sheffield SafetyNET is a way of helping professionals who support children and young people to work better, together, in the best interests of the people they are trying to help. People work better when they work together. As individuals the people who's job it is to help, support and provide advice to children and young people often try their very best to do as much as they can but often one person, on their own, does not have all the answers. It is a computer system that keeps a record of who is working with each child or young person. With this simple bit of information - who else is working with a child or young person - professionals can get together to provide a better service.

European Funded Projects Numerous EU projects such as SPES-Setting the Processes for Electronic Signatures, eEpoch -Interoperability for Smartcards, Certiserv -secure messaging systems have allowed Sheffield to develop an expertise in SMARTCARDS and PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURE

European Centre for Smartcard Development and eInclusion Launched in the city by UK Head of eGovernment in May2005. Combines needs of industry, Academics and Government. €7 million Budget to help Regional development

Contact Details