From: Dan Jellinek [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 4:50 PM
To: egovbulletin
Cc: geoff.munitz; andy.flint
Subject: E-Government Bulletin, December 2001
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[Issue starts]
* E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN.
The Email Newsletter On Electronic Government,
UK And Worldwide.
* ISSUE 106, DECEMBER 2001.
* CONTENTS - IN THIS ISSUE.
The Napsterisation of local government learning
- IDeA's peer-to-peer training platform.
Forgive and forget for e-government statements
- underperformers given second chance.
Cook to head e-democracy committee
- Commons leader convenes ministerial team.
UK Online awaits groundhog day
- government portal to launch, again.
DTLR slams 'onerous' accreditation for secure intranet
- department says staff time wasted
IBM director crowned criminal justice Tsarina
- bid to stave off further IT disasters.
Broadband cards on the table
- will the government cough up?
News in brief: disability site relaunch; UN taskforce on digital divide;
local authority sites lack interactivity.
Section two: Focus
IDeA - rise of the house of Usher.
Section three: Policy
Values: E is for ethics.
Section four: Viewpoint
E-democracy: Powering up the people.
[Contents ends.]
* SECTION ONE: NEWS.
* THE NAPSTERISATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEARNING.
An attempt to create a vast, 'Napsterised' online pool of training
materials for councils is to be launched by the local government
Improvement and Development Agency in December.
Individuals or groups from within any subscribing local authority will be
able to use any of the materials in the 'IDeA:learning' pool, as well as
add in their own resources, in a system based on the 'peer-to-peer'
networking model exploited by the music-swapping software Napster.
The aim is to reduce duplication of effort in areas ranging from health
and safety training to negotiation skills, and ensure all councils have
access to the most up to date materials.
Subscription costs have not yet been fixed, but could be in the region of a
few thousand pounds a year for a council to gain access to the system for
all their staff.
Currently, councils in England and Wales have an identifiable training
budget of 600 million pounds for their 1.8 million staff, although the true
costs are thought to be much higher, hidden within departmental budgets.
The system will be aimed at all levels of a council from the chief
executive to front-line staff. The intention is that quality will be ensured
by a system of peer reviews. "The new system will allow small amounts
of learning to take place at exactly the right time, whenever people
want," says IDeA executive director Mel Usher.
The system has been developed in partnership with e-learning specialists
Epic Group (http://www.epic.co.uk), with each partner putting in
400,000 pounds of development money. IDeA owns the rights to use the
system in local government, while Epic retains private sector rights.
NOTE: See also Section Two, this issue.
* FORGIVE AND FORGET FOR E-GOVERNMENT STATEMENTS.
Local councils in the UK whose 'implementing electronic government'
(IEG) statements were deemed 'unsatisfactory' by the government in a
first round of submissions earlier this year are set for unexpected
redemption, E-Government Bulletin has learned.
The statements will be used to decide whether councils are entitled to a
share of a central fund for local e-government worth 350 million pounds.
After the first round some 64 per cent of statements submitted were
considered satisfactory; 30 per cent were asked to carry out 'further
significant work'; six per cent were labelled unsatisfactory and three
councils failed to submit a statement.
While it was always known that the middle-ranked councils would be
allowed a chance to rewrite their statements, it was initially assumed that
the 'unsatisfactory' councils had blown their chances.
Now it emerges that every council was allowed to resubmit, including
the three that had yet to submit any statement. Following a fresh rating
process it is now expected that close to 100 per cent, and possibly every
council, will succeed. Results will be announced by ministers in the next
fortnight.
The shift in position could be the result of the DTLR noting that the
devolved regions of the UK have taken a softer line on sharing out
modernisation money to councils, with all councils included from the
start.
It is still not clear exactly how much money each authority stands to
receive out of the 350 million pound pot, however. The DTLR has said it
will top-slice an amount for council-led partnership projects picked out
from among the IEG statements, with the remainder to be divided
equally between all councils.
The precise split will be announced in December, but it seems that
councils which are involved in winning partnerships will also receive a
share of the rest, effectively gaining twice.
Meanwhile in Scotland, the Scottish Executive is hoping to distribute
guidance next week to councils and other public sector bodies in the
devolved region wishing to bid for a share of the as yet unspecified pot in
the second round of its Modernising Government Fund.
A significant portion of the money is slated to go towards projects
involving citizen accounts and smart cards, data sharing, the
development of common data standards and e-procurement. The
executive will shortly publish details of the progress of first round MGF
projects at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/government/c21g/
* COOK TO HEAD E-DEMOCRACY COMMITTEE.
A new Cabinet committee has been appointed to consider the merits and
demerits of e-democracy, Tony Blair announced in a written
parliamentary answer yesterday.
Commons Leader Robin Cook, who will chair the committee, said the
two main issues it will consider are electronic voting and how best to
engage the electorate through online consultations between elections.
In a lobby briefing shortly after the announcement Cook said he thought
it unlikely that electronic votes will be cast in the next general election,
although trials will proceed in next year's May local elections.
But Cook he was more positive about online consultations, saying:
"Some of the select committees in the House have already started on-line
consultation with the public, I am sure there are lessons there we can
apply more widely across government."
The committee is composed of 10 ministers including trade and industry
secretary Patricia Hewitt. E-Envoy Andrew Pinder has been invited to sit
in on the meetings.
NOTE: Readers interested in e-democracy and e-politics may like to
attend a 'VoxPolitics' seminar in London on Wednesday next week, co-
hosted by the publishers of E-Government Bulletin. Please email
[log in to unmask] for details.
* UK ONLINE AWAITS GROUNDHOG DAY.
'Operation Piglet' is underway at the Office of the e-Envoy, the first part
of a two-phase revamp of the government portal's main web portal
UKOnline (http://www.ukonline.gov.uk) after the office sacked former
site developer BT for reasons unspecified.
In January the redesigned site will go live, beginning a the second phase
of the operation, known internally as 'Groundhog'. The identity of BT's
successor has not yet been revealed, apart from a statement that the
company is an existing government 'framework' supplier (see
http://www.gtc.gov.uk). The Office of the e-Envoy has said it will
eventually launch a formal European 'OJEC' tender for the contract.
As for the site's hosting arrangements, on 8 November it moved to a
temporary home at Bath-based not-for-profit hosting company Eduserv
(http://www.eduserv.ac.uk). In January it will move to more hefty
servers maintained by Silicon Valley-based Loudcloud
(http://www.loudcloud.com), a company set up by former Netscape
founder Marc Andreessen.
With the annual reports of UK Online and its host department due for
publication on Tuesday (4 December), sections dealing with their
business affairs are likely to be closely scrutinised.
The new site is expected to contain repackaged and renamed 'life
events'. The unit is also hoping to improve the portal's "look and feel"
and also gain top marks for accessibility to people with disabilities.
* DTLR SLAMS 'ONEROUS' ACCREDITATION FOR SECURE
INTRANET.
The Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions has
attacked the accreditation process for connection to the Government
Secure Intranet, branding it "onerous and slow", and too expensive to
allow it to give all DTLR staff access.
"We are concerned that this, and the inability to join up with local
government, means the full potential value of the GSI may not be
realised," the department says in its recently published revised e-business
strategy statement. Over a third of DTLR staff are not connected to GSI,
according to the report
The e-Envoy's Office is reviewing the overall management of the GSI
with a view to issuing a European tendering notice in early 2002.
Accreditation, however, is handled by government agencies.
Also in the new DTLR strategy are plans to develop a set of electronic
supplier catalogues for staff to make online purchases, and an emphasis
on one-to-one technology training for ministers at their desks. See:
http://www.detr.gov.uk/ebusiness/estrategy
* IBM DIRECTOR CROWNED CRIMINAL JUSTICE TSARINA.
On 12 December IBM Director Jo Wright will take up a newly created
post as overseer of criminal justice IT projects for the UK government,
reporting to Home Office Permanent Secretary John Gieve.
Among Wright's goals is the provision of secure email by 2003.
Wright will have overall responsibility for IT projects run by the
disparate but interconnected entities which make up England's criminal
justice system including the Criminal Prosecution Service, Police, Prison
Service, Probation Service and Court Service. Among her goals will be
the provision of secure email between these bodies by 2003.
Wright's appointment is an attempt to avoid repetition of past IT
disasters in this area including the now defunct Home Office 'Integrating
Business and Information Systems' (IBIS) project. IBIS has already been
rebranded the Criminal Justice Integration Unit
(http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/cpg/ibis/ibispage.htm).
* BROADBAND CARDS ON THE TABLE.
The government will reveal on Monday how committed it is to boosting
the development of broadband infrastructure and content in the UK, with
the publication of its response to the recent first report of its advisory
Broadband Stakeholders Group (See E-Government Bulletin, October
2000).
The response is likely to confirm that the government sees broadband as
essential for a successful modern economy, and that public-private
partnership within a light regulation framework is the best way to
proceed.
The government is also likely to accept the bulk of the stakeholder
group's recommendations, including the need to educate people and
small businesses about the benefits of broadband technology; and to
adopt a specific plan for wiring up schools to broadband.
However, no advance hint has emerged of how far the government will
commit to becoming a strong user itself of broadband technologies,
which leading members of the stakeholder group see as vital to
stimulating take-up and demand across the economy. The group would
like to see a commitment to wiring up all the UK's schools, hospitals and
councils to broadband over a given timescale, but such a promise would
not come cheap.
* NEWS IN BRIEF:
* DISABILITY ACTION: The UK government's long neglected web
gateway for information on disability policy,
http://www.disability.gov.uk, is due to relaunch in January. The site has
been stagnating over the past year while its parent department, the former
Department of Social Security, was transformed into the Department for
Work and Pensions. For the full story see the November issue of our
sister publication E-Access Bulletin:
http://www.e-accessibility.com
* ONE WORLD: A new task force has been created by the United
Nations this month to help narrow the digital divide between the
developed and developing world. It aims to improve global
interconnectivity and promote benefits of technologies to developing
countries:
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/011121_bridges.shtml
* POOR SHOW: Only five per cent of UK local authority web sites
display a strong degree of interactivity, according to a new 'BVC guide'
published by Consilium Technologies:
http://www.bestvaluecommunity.com
[Section one ends]
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[Sponsored notice ends]
* SECTION TWO: FOCUS.
- IDeA
* RISE OF THE HOUSE OF USHER.
by Dan Jellinek [log in to unmask]
The Local Government Improvement and Development Agency - IDeA
- has gone into e-overdrive.
Until recently not the most high-profile of local government bodies, the
agency - formed in 1999 out of the managerial training arm of the
former Local Government Management Board - is popping up all over
the place with innovative e-government projects.
Overall, its current work is divided into three broad areas: consultancy,
knowledge and learning and e-government.
Paid consultancy work comes under its 'IDeA Solutions' arm, including
the Local Government Improvement Programme (LGIP) under which
councils' management is reviewed by their peers - senior managers from
other areas. Much of this work is not e-government related, although
some is and a separate e-government peer review service ('eLGIP') is set
to be launched by the agency next year.
'Knowledge and learning' work includes the new 'IDeA Knowledge'
web portal; a shortly-to-be-launched IDeA Learning online learning
project (see news, this issue); the Beacon Councils scheme operated on
behalf of the government; and a Best Value programme.
All these projects have strong e-government elements. The knowledge
portal alone has not started off well, perhaps because it was so ambitious
- aiming to provide the most highly developed online database of local
government management resources, including e-government resources.
The agency now admits this was a bit of a tall order and it is currently
being remodelled as a series of networks through which users can
exchange ideas and best practice.
Finally, the agency is involved in some major national projects which are
focused entirely on e-government, after it was asked by the Local
Government Association to take the lead in this area on behalf of local
government.
All these projects are grouped under a division headed by IDeA's new
head of e-government, John Thornton.
Thornton says the problem councils have had with the e-government
agenda has been joining up the various strands. "There has been a lot of
good work going on in local government, but it has been hard to make
the connections. How to join up with other sectors was even less clear.
We needed to step back and look at how to make these connections."
Thornton has drawn up a draft e-government 'framework' within which
all councils can work, preserving their local focus while avoiding
excessive duplication of effort.
Underlying the framework are four 'pillars' of activity. The first is that
of standards: the need to work towards common ground in the use of
connectivity standards such as XML or geographical referencing
standards. The second is the need to dovetail with central government
projects such as UK Online.
The third pillar is comprised of existing national projects that are led by
local government, such as IDeA's own National Land Information
Service (http://www.nlis.org.uk) and the LASER project which is setting
out national standards for locally held electoral register information to
support electronic voting in the future. And the fourth pillar is IDeA's
support work for local government including its new network for local
government 'e-champions'.
On top of these pillars the framework itself has several columns
representing generic areas of activity such as 'Application areas' and
'Citizen records'. Then each column is broken down into building blocks
such as 'local advice', a building block within application areas which
covers the use of technology to dispense information in the community
about issues such as flooding or foot and mouth. Within 'citizen records',
building blocks might be the change of address process and allowing
people to update their own records.
"When I started no-one could really say how this puzzle fitted together, it
was like half-a-dozen jigsaw puzzles which were also double-sided - the
local picture on one side and the national on the other," Thornton says.
"We are trying to tie it together, so the local authorities can focus on
tailoring it to their areas."
The framework is still being perfected but Thornton says early feedback
has welcomed it as the clearest outline of the way towards local e-
government so far created.
Once a final version has been created the next step will be to look at
where the gaps in central investment lie, he says. The main areas where
gaps are likely include most of the 'people bits', he says, issues such as
winning the hearts and minds of staff, educating citizens and service
users and training management using tools such as e-learning. "I don't
think we've got off first base yet in these areas."
As IDeA has no enforcement powers, ultimately the strength of the
partnerships he can forge with other relevant bodies such as the DTLR,
the Office of the e-Envoy and local authorities individually. "We can't
enforce anything - we have to persuade."
This task will be made easier by IDeA's expanding influence across local
government. The organisation has come on a long way since the days of
the LGMB.
"The LGMB was fairly slow-moving, and lost sight of what its
customers wanted," says Mel Usher. "Its work also tended to be aimed at
chief executives, whereas we want to reach into the bowels of the
organisation - not to the service front lines but much lower down the
management structure."
From a turnover in the early days of around 7 million UK pounds the
agency now turns over around 25 million, 12 million of which is
government-funded from a grant top-sliced from local government
spending and the rest coming from fees raised. E-government is clearly
good for business.
[Section two ends]
* SECTION THREE: POLICY
- VALUES.
* E IS FOR ETHICS.
By Phil Cain [log in to unmask]
Though many in the developed world perceive their governments as
overly bureaucratic and often inept, far fewer think of them as
organisations which are malign at heart. But recent technological
developments combined with the greater resources and legislative leeway
promised to security services since 11 September may lead to
perceptions darkening.
According to Frank Bannister of Trinity College Dublin, there is already
good reason to be concerned. Bannister points to the increasing ability of
states to gather and cross-reference large amounts of information about
citizens at high speed. A recent example is the international surveillance
alliance codenamed Echelon, recently the subject of European
Parliament scrutiny. Other threats are posed by an increase in inequality
through technological exclusion.
In a recent paper written with Steven Lalor from the Department of the
Taoseach in Ireland entitled 'Public service values: towards an ethical
framework for e-government', Bannister says a set of ethical values for
civil servants in the form of a charter would provide a safeguard to the
public against 'e-oppression'.
"A framework cannot supply instant answers to all ethical dilemmas and
conflicts, but it can provide an environment within which actions can be
taken," the paper says.
Developing the concept, it says statutory codes of ethics should be drawn
up for individual state employees and government bodies.
Bannister and Lalor further propose the creation of a statutory code
specifying the way e-government treats its citizens. Among the
recommendations for inclusion in this last code is that all information
transmitted electronically is accurate and complete, and that it makes
non-electronic forms of information available.
The authors conclude that none of the existing lists of ethical values,
such as those formulated by the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public
Life in 1995, are suitable as a basis for e-government framework. Instead
what is needed, the paper says, are values which are politically and
ideologically neutral, practical and acceptable to the reasonable citizen.
The ethical framework laid down should, the paper argues, be taken as
the basis of legislation in which the citizen might take refuge. It quotes
the principle cited by Thomas More in Robert Bolt's play 'A man for all
seasons', which suggests that the ultimate protection for all our freedoms
is the ability to hide in the 'thickets' of an independent judiciary, which
protect us even against the clutches of the state.
"It is not possible to legislate civil servants into behaving well, but the
citizenry has long since discovered that ultimately only the law can
provide guaranteed protection," the paper says.
The authors believe the proposal is a first step in developing an ethical
code applicable to Europe, where ethical thinking about e-government
lags behind that in the US. The next step for the UK, Bannister says,
would be the establishment of a government commission.
NOTE: Readers can obtain a copy of his paper by emailing Frank
Bannister on [log in to unmask]
[Section three ends]
* SECTION FOUR: VIEWPOINT.
- E-DEMOCRACY.
* POWERING UP THE PEOPLE.
By Beth Porter [log in to unmask]
How ironic it is that people are increasingly concluding that the
government and voting have less and less to do with them, just as new
technology is allowing greater participation in democracy.
This new century could empower people to participate in shaping the
policies which affect their lives like never before, but are people ready?
Most of the discussion at last month's Electronic Government Forum -
hosted by the publishers of this bulletin - properly addressed issues such
as e-procurement for government and the management of administrative
change. Yet relevant questions of e-democracy are raised by these topics,
with important implications for wider societal change. The two must
develop in parallel if e-government is to mean more than a fancy way to
order paperclips online.
Whatever their private power fantasies, who is going to admit publicly
that more democracy isn't better democracy? Politicians must take a
long, strong look at the quality of their dialogue with the people they
represent. Dwindling electoral mandates not only make for bad
democracy, they underscore feelings of alienation among voters.
New technology ushers in e-democracy and its handmaidens
consultation, transparency and accountability. Stephen Coleman,
Director of the eDemocracy programme at the Hansard Society, has long
advised that e-government without e-democracy fails to realise the full
benefits of new technology.
At the 'Europaeum 2001' policy forum held in Oxford in September
Coleman identified three requirements sought by all electorate:
* representatives who represent specific points of view rather than party
lines;
* institutions which don't predetermine everything, but allow policy and
strategy input from the electorate, at least at agenda level;
* a body politic more concerned with people's actual lives than party
agendas.
Coleman advocates online civic spaces, where everyone can have their
say. He also contends that deliberation and debate must become as
sophisticated as the hallmark voting system which is Britain's pride.
And, as the inventor of the web Tim Berners-Lee mused in his keynote
speech at that same forum: "Maybe I'm just dreaming, but we can have
debate with accountability . . . technology can provide a public platform
open to scrutiny."
If the Internet is about anything it's about interactivity. E-government
must find and fund ways to use technology to deliver a meaningful
dialogue between government and citizen. And that means equal
participation, not just a one-way electronic barrage of information.
Eventually voting itself can be made available online, once issues of
security and proof-of-identity can be assured. But requisite to voting is
the quality of the debate. If you really want to encourage participation
the technological mechanism must allow online debates to meet clear
targets:
* Focused debates, not a free-for-all about mega issues such as 'How
should we improve the NHS?'
* Properly organised e-Forums which are intuitive to use. There is
currently no dedicated discussion software developed primarily to
stimulate debate. Proper funding is needed for this urgently.
* People need clear indications of how their contribution was used and
the resulting outcomes.
A generation is fast coming of age with expectations of such input. They
can't understand why democracy, which is supposed to be about them,
doesn't provide the choices available to them in gaming and a raft of
other electronic exchanges. They're no longer willing to accept
traditional tactics of delay, obfuscating language, and referral elsewhere.
Meanwhile, government eyes continue to focus on bottom-line supply
and demand issues and their legal satellites such as copyright. Important,
yes. But the government cannot allow marketing to dominate the
electronic agenda without simultaneously providing funding for effective
debating software development and other consultation devices.
In the words of Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Derek Wyatt,
"consultation needn't be tedious." Wyatt, one of Parliament's more
electronically literate members, has understood that new technology not
only allows but demands greater engagement of the people. He advocates
running competitions and taking regular 'e-samples' as in the
broadcasting industry.
Let's hope not that he's right ... of course he is. But that ministers and
their advisors have the imagination to hear and to heed. Otherwise not
just democracy, but all of us are in trouble.
* Article by Beth Porter, author of 'The net effect' and co-chair, Bristol
City Council Women's Forum.
[Section four ends]
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[Issue ends]
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