The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has praised councils for "tremendous progress" towards this year's e-government target in its latest annual report.
The ODPM says on average, councils are 79% e-enabled compared to 59% last year. It also highlights work done by the National Projects for local e-government, which have produced over 250 different products to be used across councils.
The report shows that:
- 98% of local authorities will meet the 2005 target;
- In over 100 councils, citizens can already go online to submit planning applications, check their council tax balance and calculate their benefits;
- Councils are "actively implementing" three quarters of the priority outcomes required by the 2005 target and those needed for further e-government funding.
The report builds on the feedback given by local authorities through the Implementing Electronic Government statements designed to assess progress and allocate further funding.
Councils submitting the statements are to receive a further £150,000 in capital grant to help them deliver local e-government over the next year.
Local e-government minister Phil Hope said on 4 March, 2005: "Our second year report documents the tremendous progress that has been made by councils to date, under the sponsorship of the National Strategy for local e-government. If local e-government is to make a genuine and sustainable contribution to the improvement of public services, then the next 12 months must see us driving through the benefits of our investment to make a real difference to the lives of ordinary people."
However, the report comes amid some uncertainty over one key area of the strategy — the 22 National Projects.
Local IT specialists are concerned that the ODPM has left it late to make arrangements to continue the support for the National Projects beyond this year.
The Society of IT Management (Socitm) wants to see measures put in place to help councils make use of the initiatives.
Socitm chief executive Kate Mountain told Government Computing News that her organisation is still involved in ongoing discussions with the ODPM. She said that Whitehall could have outlined its plans earlier.
"It would have been good to have been in this position a year ago rather than now. Councils are experiencing some uncertainty and it doesn't help when they are trying to use the projects to meet the targets."
Mountain said that there is much good work going on besides the National Projects, however, and wants attention to be paid to the "difficult last 20 percent" now that most of the 2005 agenda has been completed.
