From: Dan Jellinek [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 21 February 2003 14:47 To: egb-html Subject: E-Government Bulletin - 21 Feburary 2003 E-Government Bulletin is attached in HTML format. We also append it below as plain text. To receive in plain text only, please follow the instructions in the newsletter. +++E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN - ISSUE 131, FRIDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2003. The email newsletter on electronic government, UK and worldwide. Please forward this free service to colleagues so they can subscribe by sending a blank email to [log in to unmask] for our text plus HTML version, or [log in to unmask] for the plain text version - full details at the end. We never pass on email addresses. For further information see: http://www.headstar.com/egb NOTE: This newsletter now conforms to the new accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) Standard, developed by our sister newsletter E-Access Bulletin. For example, all items are numbered in the contents and throughout. For details see: http://www.headstar.com/ten ++CONTENTS. 01: Terror response network 'a disaster' - emergency services denied proper tools. 02: Mobile rent reminders 'better than paper' - text messages for council tenants. 03: Welwyn Hatfield passes accessibility audit - RNIB benchmark for council site. 04: Auditors call for e-campaign for elderly - government must tackle age gap. 05: Reader security survey goes live - tell us about your concerns. News in brief: 06: Healthy transmission - DTV project results; 07: Information exchange - inclusive e-government; 08: Humanity briefing - education shortfall; 09: Cyberspace security - EC plan; 10: Future framework - role for libraries. Section two: Debate - public-private partnerships. 11: A problem shared is a problem solved? Earlier this month, e- government leaders met informally at our request to discuss past experience and future prospects of private sector partnerships. Dan Jellinek reports. Section three: Focus - web traffic. 12: Secrets of stickiness. Which local authorities have got the best-used web sites, and what is the secret of their success? Website consultant Helen Williams has some answers. [Contents ends.] ++SPONSORED NOTICE: END-TO-END CRM SOLUTIONS FROM BT. BT's experience and expertise in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can help you provide high quality service to your customers, by responding to their needs, in the way they want. The wide range of our products and services means you can choose precisely the right solutions to suit the nature of your business. If you're looking for tangible results, CRM is designed to both help improve your productivity and give you a solid return on investment. To find out how BT helped Hewden Stuart reduce call handling errors by 71 per cent see: http://fastlink.headstar.com/bt [Sponsored notice ends]. ++SECTION ONE: NEWS. +01: TERROR RESPONSE NETWORK 'A DISASTER'. As fears of new terrorist attacks on Britain reach their highest levels since 11 September 2001, work on a computer network that would co- ordinate local and national responses by emergency services to major threats has been shut down amid disagreements over funding, technical problems and internal management, E-Government Bulletin has learned. The HAZMOD data network was originally intended by the Cabinet Office's Civil Contingency Secretariat to launch in October 2002, enabling councils, hospitals, police and fire authorities to co-ordinate their responses to major accidents and civil emergencies (see E-Government Bulletin, January 2002). In the event of a terrorist attack, HAZMOD would be used to help emergency services identify the best evacuation routes and safe locations for civilians at risk, for example. Trials of HAZMOD were completed in May 2001, involving emergency planning officers from Bedfordshire, Cornwall, East Riding of Yorkshire, Rotherham, Staffordshire and Vale of Glamorgan - plus Greater Manchester Public Health Authority, States of Guernsey Civil Defence Committee and the government's Emergency Planning College. However, the Cabinet Office confirmed this week that the project has been stalled by internal management changes, with the last progress report as far back as May 2002 and the latest update on the project web site stating the delays are "due to pressure of other work" (http://www.ukresilience.info/contingencies/cont_hazmod.htm). Others involved in early testing of the network pointed towards more serious problems including a lack of funds and technical glitches. According to Gavin Macho, emergency planning manager at Vale of Glamorgan, major technical problems prevented many participants from accessing the central HAZMOD databases and tools remotely over the internet. "It was just too slow and difficult to use. It was a disaster," he said. Mike Slaney, an emergency planning manager for Staffordshire and general secretary of the UK Emergency Planning Society, said his own enquiries to government have suggested the real reason for the current delays is a lack of money. "Apparently, it's on hold because there are no funds to develop it further," said Slaney. "There were some initial technical problems, but technical problems aren't insurmountable." "We were extremely interested in the demonstrations, it would have meant a co-ordinated geographical information system for all emergency services and planners across the country," Slaney said. "It would be ideally suited to terrorist incidents." Suk Athwal, head of emergency planning research at the Cabinet Office, denied that the HAZMOD project has been scrapped. "It's not entirely killed off," he said. "Funding really isn't the problem. We are undergoing a period of reorganisation that has to be completed before work on HAZMOD can continue." +02: MOBILE RENT REMINDERS 'BETTER THAN PAPER'. A scheme to send council rent payment reminders to young people via mobile phone text message has been launched by Fife Council in Scotland (http://www.fife.gov.uk). Under the scheme, tenants between the ages of 16 and 25 received a message that says 'please contact X' and provides a phone number. If no payment was forthcoming, a second reminder was sent. So far, messages have been sent to 50 people in the Cardenden and Kirkcaldy West districts. Raymond Mann, housing manager, said that the response has been better than it has been in the past using paper reminders. However he said before the pilot programme can be extended across more districts in Fife, data protection issues needed to be clarified and improved software installed. Fife is also exploring how the council can make better use of email to contact tenants in serious arrears, Mann said. Meanwhile, another public text messaging service from Rushmoor Borough Council, 'Infotxt' (http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/infotxt.htm), will not be relaunched this month as planned despite a successful pilot (see E-Government Bulletin, issue 127, December 2002). The scheme, which aimed to provide leisure information, has been put on hold due to management and funding difficulties. An upcoming budget review will ultimately decide whether the scheme is to go ahead in September. +03: WELWYN HATFIELD PASSES ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT. This month Welwyn Hatfield Council (http://www.welhat.gov.uk) became the first English local authority to receive a logo from the Royal National Institute of the Blind's web accessibility audit scheme, 'See it Right' (http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital/siraccess) Wrexham council in Wales (http://www.wrexham.gov.uk) was the first in the UK to pass the audit. Government guidelines require all public agencies to ensure their sites are accessible to people with disabilities such as visual impairment, for example by adding textual tags to images. Other public sector sites to have received audit approval include the government web portal UK online (http://www.ukonline.gov.uk), Greater Manchester Police (http://www.gmp.police.uk); and the local government Improvement and Development Agency (http://www.idea.gov.uk). The Welwyn Hatfield site was cited for its appropriate font size and simple layout. The RNIB estimates that bringing all sites up to standard would cost under two per cent of original design costs. The audit scheme came under fire this month however from one web publisher who said the Welwyn Hatfield site contained several features which were inaccessible to the visually impaired, including an example of 'blinking' text. In a debate reported in this month's issue of E- Government Bulletin's sister publication E-Access Bulletin, the RNIB defended its assessment system as a process of balanced judgment. For more on this story email Mel Poluck on [log in to unmask] . +AUDITORS CALL FOR E-CAMPAIGN FOR ELDERLY. The government should launch a marketing campaign to highlight the benefits of e-services to older people, according to a report published yesterday by the National Audit Office. The campaign should offer ways to overcome barriers to using the internet and other new technologies such as lack of confidence, the report says. The government is making some progress in providing accessible e- services for older people, but there is room for considerable improvement, the NAO says. The report finds that that while government initiatives such as UK online (http://www.ukonline.gov.uk) have aimed to broaden internet use by all sections of society, older people have so far been low users of e-services. It finds that only 17 per cent of those over 65 have used the internet, compared with 94 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds. 'Progress in making e-services accessible to all - encouraging use by older people' can be seen at: http://www.nao.gov.uk/whatsnew.htm +05: READER SECURITY SURVEY GOES LIVE. E-Government Bulletin is running an online survey of our readers' interests, needs and concerns relating to technology security, from the threat posed by viruses and hacking to password security and other issues. The results will be fed back to a conference run by our sister company, the e-Government Security Exchange, and published in the bulletin. We would be grateful if all readers would consider setting aside five minutes or so to pop onto the web site and answer as many questions as you can. The more people fill it in, the better information we can feed back to you! All responses will be held in strictest confidence, and used for statistical purposes only. See: http://www.electronic-government.com/securityquestionnaire.htm ++NEWS IN BRIEF: +06: HEALTHY TRANSMISSION: An evaluation of four Department of Health pilot projects exploring the application of digital interactive television in primary health care services is now online. The results are based on research into the transmission of health care information and advice by City University, London and Sheffield University: http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/organisation/is/research/dhrg/reports +07: INFORMATION EXCHANGE: A US-based online information exchange for e-government resources, materials and experiences has been opened by non-profit body the Children's Partnership. 'Technology tools connecting citizens to government' aims to identify the online needs of low-income and disadvantaged people: http://fastlink.headstar.com/content +08: HUMANITY BRIEFING: A briefing paper just out, 'ICT development and basic skills strategy,' calls for a radical debate on basic computer skills in education and training for all ages in the UK. It says that the gaps between technology development and skills policy are widening and stresses the importance of teaching up-to-date skills to avoid further marginalising socially excluded people from new technologies. The report was produced by the charity HumanITy: http://www.humanity.org.uk/articles/pub_ictdevelopment.shtml +09: CYBERSPACE SECURITY: Plans for a European body to promote best online security practices have been unveiled by the European Commission. The European Network and Information Security Agency will provide advice and assistance to the computer emergency response teams of EU member states and institutions: http://fastlink.headstar.com/security +10: FUTURE FRAMEWORK: A government report out last week sets out the role of libraries as bases for learning digital skills and providing access to e-government services. It also suggests that more libraries could improve online services by creating web sites for local community groups. 'Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade' is at: http://www.culture.gov.uk/heritage [Section one ends.] ++SPONSORED CASE STUDIES: SHARING EXPERIENCE IN E- GOVERNMENT. Welcome to our sponsored case study listing, where companies can highlight e-government partnerships of which they are most proud. Readers interested in exploring issues raised here are also invited to participate in the forthcoming Electronic Government Forum in London on 20 May. Each study will be the subject of a discussion group and the sponsors are offering guest places for public sector readers. For details follow the case study links. +LOCAL AUTHORITY PATHFINDER INVESTS IN GIS. Residents in Wiltshire and Swindon can access a new range of local services thanks to a new component of the Wiltshire and Swindon Pathfinder web site, developed with geographic information systems specialist ESRI (UK): http://www.electronic-government.com/esri/wiltshire&swindon.htm +IMPROVING SERVICES WITH VOICE OVER IP. This Nortel Networks case study outlines a Norwegian project to implement a reliable converged network for voice and data that improves government services and also reduces overall operating costs: http://www.electronic-government.com/nortelnetworks +SANDWELL BUILDS E-GOVERNMENT AROUND WEB- BASED GIS. With multiple legacy systems and an objective to extract key land information, maps and photographs out of their departmental silos, Sandwell Council contracted Intergraph to develop a web-accessible geospatial solution: http://www.electronic-government.com/integraph/sandwell.htm +HAVE YOU GOT A CASE STUDY TO SHARE? Readers from the private sector are invited to contact us for more details and insertion costs. Those from the public sector are encouraged to nominate private sector partners who may be interested in gaining exposure. Please email John Webster: [log in to unmask] [Sponsored case studies end.] SECTION TWO: DEBATE - PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS. +11: A PROBLEM SHARED IS A PROBLEM SOLVED? by Dan Jellinek [log in to unmask] When is a partnership not a partnership? This and other substantial questions were chewed over with the food at a discussion dinner hosted in London this month by E-Government Bulletin in association with Agilisys. John Thornton, Head of E-Government at IDeA, told the assembled guests that public-private partnerships for e-government were principally attractive to the public sector because they could bring in badly needed resources. "We know that if you put together the 675 million that the ODPM is throwing in to e-government, plus the billion and a half that comes from local government, there's still a big gap. "My big concern however is that the message has gone out that 'partnership is good, you get money for it', and some of these partners have come together with the sole purpose of dressing up what they are doing as a partnership in order to get money. Partnerships are easy to get into, but if you don't structure them right, you end up spending more time managing the partnership than doing the job, and it is very difficult to get out of them." Mike Barkway, chief executive of local authority technology collaboration body London Connects, said his organisation has set up a 'private sector forum' to allow companies to comment on how services are packaged when they are put out to tender. The forum will make an initial report next month. "I might have a guess at what they will say, which is likely to be about aggregation and cost of entry to the market", Barkway said. "Anyone who ventures into the local government market, with over 440 authorities, will know there are huge problems of selling. There is more scope for aggregation, because ultimately people want money ploughed into front line services." Barkway also expressed concerns about the diversity of funding initiatives from the government to encourage innovation. "I do get concerned that there isn't a clear national blueprint about the roll-out of innovation, pathfinders, national projects and so on. There's a scattergun approach to funding. Partnerships never work outside a political framework, so unless central government comes up with a system of funding that helps, it won't work." Peter Blair, from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, said: "With the first round of Implementing Electronic Government statements we were trying to win a battle for hearts and minds in taking e-government outside the IT department and putting it at the centre of every local authority's agenda. Certainly we felt that putting 200K into the budget of every authority was supportive of innovation." Danny Budzak, a Society of Public Information Networks board member who has worked at Newham Council and currently works at Lewisham, said: "During my time at Newham I was involved with two very different partnership projects. "One was a big European-funded kiosk project in which we were supposed to partner with other European countries. Now the only reason for that was political, there was nothing to share with each other. I mean people went to Sweden, Greece, France - although I only went to Debden, the end of the central line - and it cost a lot of money to install a kiosk network. But there is nothing left of that project now, the last kiosk stopped working two years ago. "But there have also been community projects like Newham Online that have been very local, and they've been successful and sustainable." Moira Bragg, ICT Strategy Manager at Medway Council, said: "When negotiating partnership style contracts, councils can become very involved in tying down the contract, and making sure the performance is measured, and the outcomes are measured. This can become quite uncomfortable because it can be hard to see where partnership is coming in. Why not just call it a contract?" John Thornton said true partnership means sharing the risk and reward. "You structure it so there aren't incentives to add variations, there are real incentives to cut the cost and deliver the benefits. The problem is the private sector is going through tough times. The economy is such that they'd actually quite like good solid contracts with annuity income and the time when they had lots of capital to invest and take risk has gone." John O'Callaghan, head of information systems at Kent County Council, said: "One of the most successful partnerships was that which formed for the regeneration of Glasgow. The reason why all the parties came together was a common fear that the city was going to be destroyed, but once they had achieved their purpose the partnership fell apart. The structure of local government is not conducive to partnership." Agilisys chairman Manoj Badale said: "Partnerships work when the partners' skills and resources are complementary, and when they are clear about how the partnership will benefit the service user. "But you also have to be honest with each other from the outset that you're unlikely to remain partners through the lifetime of a project. People may say it is a bad thing if a partnership collapses but if you go into a partnership knowing that the status quo will only last for a certain period of time, then you build the right level of trust and openness of dialogue." Another common potential problem is a tendency for public sector bodies and companies to "try to bite off too much", Badale said. "In fact, if you can get just one or two things right, and then go onto the next thing, you will get the customers excited and create the incentives for change. The private sector is as much to blame here, the big companies often try to over-promise and win big contracts, but for whose benefit? The best IT projects are incremental and evolutionary." NOTE: Opinions expressed in this article are personal and not necessarily shared by a person's employing organisation. For a full transcript of the discussion see: http://www.headstar.com/egb/discuss-feb.doc (Word format) http://www.headstar.com/egb/discuss-feb.txt (Text format). [Section two ends.] ++SPONSORED NOTICE: E-PROCUREMENT GOVERNMENT - EXPANDING PURCHASING POSSIBILITIES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR. 5-6 June 2003, Hotel Okura Amsterdam, The Netherlands Traditional methods of sourcing and purchasing within the public sector can be costly and laborious. By moving procurement processes online, the supply pool is greatly expanded, giving smaller players an opportunity to tender for contracts. This increases competition and giving governments a wider choice and more buying power. Attend our 'e-Procurement Government' conference to learn what possibilities electronic solutions can offer for speeding up processes and reducing expenditure. For further information please contact Mr Ola Samuelsson on [log in to unmask] or visit: http://fastlink.headstar.com/marcusevans [Sponsored notice ends.] ++SECTION THREE: FOCUS - WEB TRAFFIC. +12: SECRETS OF STICKINESS. by Helen Williams [log in to unmask] Which local authorities have got the best-used web sites, and what is the secret of their success? For the first time this year we may have the answers to these questions, as the council technology managers' body Socitm's annual report into the state of development of local authority websites, 'Better Connected 2003', will carry a list of the top 100 most-visited sites. The core data for the table has been compiled by Internet usage monitoring company Hitwise and ranks all local authority sites by 'market share' of UK traffic - in other words, it adds together all traffic to council sites and expresses each council as a percentage of that total. The company draws its data in turn from a large group of leading internet service providers. Inevitably district councils with small local populations tend to capture lower traffic levels, so Socitm has set out to address this by adding a population weighting to produce an alternative league table of the top 20 sites. This weighted table makes fascinating reading. Why is Cambridge's site so much more popular than Oxford's? What do areas and councils as diverse as Milton Keynes, Chester, Tameside and Newcastle have in common to make them feature right at the top of the list of the most well-used sites? Superficially these sites appear to have very little in common. In talking to their creators and managers however, a number of similarities emerge. First, the job vacancies sections are always among the most popular sections of the most popular sites, so clearly a prominent and well- featured jobs section will boost site traffic. Second, all the top sites carried prominent information on specific entertainment venues or events. For Cambridge, for example, the Corn Exchange arts and entertainment centre pages receive the highest number of hits of any part of the site. Newcastle City hosts the web pages of the Great North Run; and the Isle of Wight singles out its Cowes Week pages as a magnet for visitors. It follows that the heavy marketing activity associated with theatres and major events brings extra traffic to those sites which host their content. TV coverage of the Great North Run, which mentioned the website, provided a boost to Newcastle City's visitor statistics. Promotion of any old online service may not produce such success, however, as Newcastle itself discovered. While the council's efforts in promoting an online job application service and an on-line booking facility for customers of the Theatre Royal worked well, a campaign to persuade people to pay their council tax on-line was less successful. The high-traffic council web sites have other factors in common. All are well-resourced, dynamic and offer high quality content in all areas, reflecting their councils' commitment to their web presence. They have a lively and well-designed home page, intuitive and consistent navigation, and a user-friendly search facility. Above all however, sites need that elusive quality known as 'stickiness' - a combination of usefulness and enjoyment that will keep local residents, staff, partner organisations and other users returning. The commercial site I visit most frequently is the online bookshop Amazon. I love the customer reviews, the personalization of the site, the lists of titles that other customers have additionally bought and many other thoughtful features. In addition of course it is simple, fast and reliable. If councils are to increase the numbers of people regularly interacting with them via their websites, they too need to develop on-line services that are genuinely useful and easy to use, and focus on promoting them within and without the organisation. This would seem particularly pertinent in the light of the government's new policy emphasis on take- up of key e-government services, alongside efforts to bring all services online by 2005. NOTE: Helen Williams is a freelance public sector website consultant, and a member of the Socitm 'Better Connected' review team. 'Better Connected 2003' is due to be published by Socitm on 28 February. To pre-order visit http://www.socitm.gov.uk [Section three ends.] ++END NOTES. +HOW TO RECEIVE E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN. To subscribe to this free fortnightly bulletin as an HTML attachment email: [log in to unmask] or for the plain text version email: [log in to unmask] . To unsubscribe from the HTML version email: [log in to unmask] and to unsubscribe from the text version email: [log in to unmask] . For further information on subscription, including how to subscribe or unsubscribe from an alternative email address and how to find out if an particular address is subscribed, see: http://www.headstar.com/egb/subs.html . +COPYRIGHT NOTICE. - Copyright 2003 Headstar Ltd. Regular circulation or reproduction of the bulletin by third parties is forbidden. 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