Log on, switch off 
The government has yet to convince the public of the need for online
services, writes David Leam 
David Leam
Thursday January 16, 2003
The Guardian
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/egovernment/comment/0,12767,876015,00.html 
Anniversaries inevitably lend themselves to a period of retrospection and
self-assessment. As Andrew Pinder, the government's e-envoy, blows out the
two candles on his anniversary cake this month, what thoughts should be
running through his mind? 
The Office of the e-Envoy (OeE) was conceived at the height of the
information and communication technology boom in the late 1990s. Charged
with pushing forward the government's strategy on electronic service
delivery, its aim was essentially to put some flesh on the Blairite "white
heat of new technology" rhetoric. 
Under Mr Pinder, the OeE has grown significantly. It currently has around
250 staff and its overall annual expenditure averages out at just over £50m.

Such sums are negligible, however, when set against the huge amounts being
spent on the government's overall "e-strategy". Some £1bn has been allocated
towards meeting the main government target of putting all public services
that can be transacted electronically online by 2005. And all this is
against the backdrop of a £6bn programme of government investment in IT
across the board. 
When measured against the objectives and targets set for it, the OeE's
record is fair to good. At the government's recent "e-summit", a study found
that, while Britain could not claim to be the best place in the world for
e-commerce, it lay second, behind only the US. 
Similarly, while there is still some way to go before all public services
are online by 2005 - by November last year the figure had climbed to over
50% - it is indisputable that the government's online presence has improved
beyond all recognition. 
Internet access also continues to improve. Some 50% of UK households and 90%
of UK businesses are now online, with over 6,000 UK online centres providing
additional access points around the country. 
Moreover, the OeE has seen some success in developing common frameworks and
standards for government websites and online services. The enhanced UK
online <http://www.ukonline.gov.uk/> portal provides a single point of
access to sites across government and the developing government gateway
enables secure transactions to take place. 
Such successes do not tell the full story, however. Regardless of the OeE's
specific goals, the target that really counts for this government is getting
public services delivered in a way and to the quality that the British
public expects and demands. Against this criteria it is not clear whether
the OeE has had much impact, nor indeed whether it is likely to in the
immediate future. 
It is widely recognised that levels of public take-up of online services are
extremely poor. A recent study found that only 11% of people in the UK had
used an online government service, compared with over 40% in Canada and 18%
in both France and Germany. There have been well-publicised failures in the
UK - such as the experience of customs and excise, whose efforts to make it
possible to submit VAT returns online were rewarded with only 2,500 out of
1.65m VAT registered traders signing up to do so. In international league
tables for online take-up the UK is showing relegation form. 
This is partly explicable by the fact that the government's initial targets
focused solely on making services available and not on whether they were
actually used or not. This has subsequently been addressed, and it would be
surprising if the figure did not improve. Indeed, the OeE can tell a
perfectly plausible narrative about the different stages of development that
electronic service provision will go through, from basic information
provision through to the development of more functional transactional
services. 
But while policy in this area is still relatively immature, politicians and
the British public should be concerned about the likely return on sums being
spent and on the broad thrust of current policy. 
As greater attention is focused on expanding the range of key services
provided online, there will doubtless be improvements. But given that some
80% of service transactions are delivered by local government, it seems
anomalous that local authorities received only £350m of the £1bn being
invested by government in this area. 
More fundamental problems remain, however. Most people are understandably
cautious about using services online. If electronic service delivery is to
be made truly effective then we need to provide large amounts of personal
information about ourselves - something people remain extremely hesitant to
do. 
Public concerns are ultimately much more basic - good public services are
the priority, whether delivered electronically or not. There remains a
legitimate question as to whether the money currently being spent on
electronic delivery could not be better directed to schools and teachers,
hospitals and nurses, prisons and police. 
More importantly still, by placing the emphasis on electronic service
delivery as opposed to effective service delivery, the radical reform of
public services that we so need is being delayed. Precious resources are
being expended on electronically duplicating existing ways of doing things,
when what is really needed is more fundamental innovation in the ways
services are delivered. 
Electronic service delivery will almost always play an important role, but
it is mistaken to give it such primacy in driving change. Unless a better
return on investment can be demonstrated then both public and politicians
are justified in asking whether £1bn is a price worth paying. 
· David Leam is a senior researcher at the Social Market Foundation 

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