The UK and the EU United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark join the Community Referendum confirming UK membership UK Presidencies – 1992, 1998, 2005 UK government committed to joining the euro when economics are right, but only after a referendum Referendum on Constitutional Treaty early 2006

The Cabinet Office e-Government Unit New unit in the Cabinet Office, replacing (in part) the Office of the e-Envoy Responsibilities include: formulating information technology (IT) strategy and policy developing common IT components for use across government promoting best practice across government delivering citizen-centred online services

The UK Presidency and e-Government i2010 negotiations and agreement (e-gov subgroup, ministerial meeting, TTE Council…) Ministerial e-Government Conference: “Transforming Public Services” EPAN e-Government Working Group, focusing on Accessibility and e-Skills

Ministerial e-Government Conference Report on the e-government chapter of eEurope 2005 and debate the strategic direction post 2005 Report on progress in delivering benefits and impact of e-gov to citizens and businesses Recognise and share EU and international good practice and celebrate success (eEurope Awards) Announce and publish results of international research and benchmarking Launch new e-government initiatives and targets Gain Ministerial buy-in to i2010 e-gov policies

Conference Themes Critical Success Factors Creating the right environment to enable government, business and citizens to benefit from transformation Transformation and Innovation Transformation of the administrations and innovation in the back-office Putting Citizens and Businesses First Transformation and innovation in external facing services Delivering the Benefits Measuring the benefits delivered to governments, businesses and citizens

Conference Programme First Day (24 November) –Contributions from Ministers, Commissioner(s), senior officials, leaders from industry and other stakeholders –eEurope e-Government Awards Ceremony Second Day (25 November) –Ministerial meeting and declaration (policy development for i2010) –Breakout sessions focusing on themes –Networking and shared learning

Where is Manchester?

Conference Website e-government/conference/

EPAN Meetings E-Government Working Group Meetings: 8-9 September October Lancaster House, Central London ______ DGs of Public Administration 5-6 December Newcastle upon Tyne

Lancaster House Music Room

e-Accessibility Study Consortium of RNIB, AbilityNet, Dublin City University and Socitm Automatic and manual testing of central government websites in EU25 and EU institutions (thanks for URLs) Survey of EPAN e-Gov WG regarding laws, guidelines, monitoring of accessibility (grateful for your co- operation)

e-Accessibility Study Aims: To find out the current situation (not to provide a ranking of MS) To highlight best practices To discover why some sites or services are so much better than others – what can we learn? To produce recommendations To provide public sector content for UK Presidency e-Accessibility Conference (October)

e-Skills Rising up the agenda Commission, private sector, EPAN… UK: Head of e-Government is head of IT profession Professionalisation/Career path Skills frameworks Need for wider consultation here…

e-Skills mini-conference Afternoon conference during second working group meeting (27 October) Organised by e-GU, British Computer Society & Council of European Professional Informatics Society (CEPIS) Working title: The Role of Skills and Professionalism in the delivery of e-Government / efficient and effective IT-enabled government

Other work Work plan for 2006 taking on board the new MTP and the Lisbon work Presentations from Member States on topics highlighted or other areas?

Administrative Matters Hotels – booking rooms can be difficult in London, especially in September. We’ll send advice, but please act quickly Security – very tight in Lancaster House (situated virtually next-door to Buckingham Palace and Clarence House) – will need TWO pieces of ID with photographs, e.g. passport and driving licence

Conclusions Appreciate your co-operation, e.g. completion of e-Accessibility questionnaire additional information on accessibility issues content for skills conference content at EPAN meetings and Ministerial e-Government Conference Very many thanks to Ralph and his team! We look forward to welcoming you in London soon!

See you in the UK!