+++E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN
- ISSUE 146, 03 OCTOBER 2003.
The email newsletter on electronic government,
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++SPECIAL NOTICE: E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN SEMINARS
- INFORMATION SHARING AND E-PARTICIPATION.
E-Government Bulletin is hosting two one-day seminars on key e-
government issues at the Globe Theatre, London in October.
'Information sharing for e-government - practical ways to foster
collaborative working' on 14 October covers issues from data
protection to encouraging sharing cultures. Speakers include Andrew
Larner of the Local Government Information House and John
Wheatley of the national association of citizens' advice bureaux.
'Secrets of successful e-participation and e-consultation' on 28
October
covers online citizen debate and consultation. Speakers include
Professor Stephen Coleman, Professor of e-Democracy, the Oxford
Internet Institute; Tom Loosemore, BBCi; and Julie Howell, RNIB.
Places cost 295 pounds plus VAT for public sector and 395 for private
sector delegates. Additional delegates booking at the same time
receive
a 100 pound discount. For more information and to register see:
http://www.electronic-government.com/law.htm
and
http://www.electronic-government.com/secrets.htm
or email Mel Poluck on [log in to unmask] .
[Special notice ends].
++ISSUE 146 CONTENTS.
01: Spring 'soft launch' for government store
- UK Online to close at end of February.
02: E-voting in regional straitjacket
- councils face compulsion in 2004 trials.
03: Mission from Australia
- companies' quest for UK contracts.
04: Scottish tenants make smart payments
- cards used at post office.
News in brief: 05: Driving standards - national roadshow; Face value -
biometric plan; Property magnet - land database.
Section two: Focus - US election
08: The message, not the medium: When Howard Dean said he was to
run for President his own mama laughed in his face, but when he raised
millions of dollars over the internet no-one was laughing any more.
Derek Parkinson reports on a VoxPolitics think-tank session at the US
Embassy.
Section three: Focus - electronic health records
09: The lessons that must be learned: Derek Parkinson reports on the
mixed results of electronic records pilot schemes in the UK, and the
implications for the new Integrated Care Records Service.
[Contents ends].
++SPECIAL NOTICE: 'ELECTRONIC SAFETY NETS' -
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS TO SAFEGUARD CHILDREN
- This special report from E-Government Bulletin is a unique
information resource for practitioners and policy-makers to track and
anticipate developments in this complex and highly-charged field.
Against the backdrop of the Climbii Inquiry and the new green paper
on children's services, the publication draws on progress reports and
opinion from over 50 leaders from social services, health, police and
education.
Along with new analysis and factual background from the report's
independent, specialist team, it also presents and analyses the
results of
an exclusive poll of social services directors conducted with the
Association of Directors of Social Services.
To pre-order this report at the discounted price of 95 pounds (85
pounds for a pdf version), email Mel Poluck on [log in to unmask] by
8 October.
[Special notice ends]
++SECTION ONE: NEWS.
+01: SPRING 'SOFT LAUNCH' FOR GOVERNMENT STORE.
The government's central public web services portal UK Online will
shut at the end of February 2004 to make way for 'Online Government
Store,' a new service modelled on a department store, E-Government
Bulletin has learned.
A source close to the project revealed that the first three months of
the
Store's life will be billed as a "soft launch", to be followed by a
publicity campaign after any early problems are ironed out. The
government's e-Envoy Andrew Pinder is not expected to be in post for
the full launch as his current contract ends in April.
The Cabinet Office - the department overseeing the project - is
expected to have up to five applications in place in the Store by
March
including a system for buying car licence plates from the Driver and
Vehicle Licensing Authority and self-assessment tax returns from the
Inland Revenue. Other departments known to be collaborating on the
project are the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
and the Department of Trade and Industry.
The site is also expected to mark the official demise of the 'life
episodes' model as a way to guide citizens to the right part of
government. Instead the new site will group services together in six
new categories, including 'health and well being' and 'home and
community', and may present services across several of these
categories to suit a range of expected different types of user such as
parents and carers.
One key issue as yet unresolved is the part local government will play
in the portal, with debate on whether traffic should flow from council
sites to the 'home and community' section or vice versa. Some council
representatives argue that because they provide over three quarters of
public services they should be the citizen's first port of call.
+02: E-VOTING IN REGIONAL STRAITJACKET.
Plans for e-voting across one entire region in UK elections in 2004
could compel some local authorities to use the technology against
their
wishes, according to the independent Electoral Commission. Other
councils which have run trials in the past but lie outside the region
selected would be blocked from continuing their work in this field.
The plans, mapped out in draft legislation for the combined local and
European elections in June (http://fastlink.headstar.com/evote1), will
require all local authorities in one of the 12 European Parliamentary
electoral regions to provide internet and telephone voting alongside
postal ballots. In the UK's two previous e-voting trials in 2002 and
2003, participation has been voluntary and piecemeal.
According to the Electoral Commission, which launched a public
consultation on the plans this month, "the involvement of individual
local authorities in the specified pilot regions [one for e-voting and
two
for postal voting only] will not be voluntary, nor will there be any
scope for political leaders in the region to object"
(http://fastlink.headstar.com/evote2). The consultation, which runs
until 12 November, aims to identify the most suitable UK region by 8
December.
Three regions have already been ruled out - London, Northern Ireland,
and whichever English region - likely to be the South West - is linked
with Gibraltar, after plans are finalised to allow the UK territory to
vote in European Parliament elections for the first time.
Authorities such as Swindon, which has spent a great deal of time and
effort encouraging its local residents to use e-voting technology in
previous trials, will not be able to provide any facilities in 2004.
Alan
Winchcombe, electoral services manager at Swindon, told E-
Government Bulletin the council would be considering the best way to
lobby decision-makers to change the new plans. "After two years of
positive publicity to encourage e-voting we'll now have to put out
negative publicity telling people they can't have it," he said.
+03: MISSION FROM AUSTRALIA.
Austrade, the Australian Trade Commission, this week launched its
first 'mission' to help eight of the country's technology companies
win
UK local authority business.
The companies - some of which already have UK offices but several of
which have yet to establish a foothold here - are to meet technology
decision-makers from UK local authorities in a week-long programme
of events.
The initiative builds on a previous Austrade mission to meet central
government departments in March 2001, after which the agency
reported that 14 companies won sales of around 100 million Australian
dollars.
Austrade is hoping that Australia's strong reputation in e-government
will help facilitate introductions into the UK market. "Not only is
Australia widely recognised as being advanced in the delivery of e-
government services, but Australian suppliers have a record of
delivering successful applications to government departments in
Australia and overseas," a spokesperson said.
"The local government IT market is stunningly competitive - with
decision-makers besieged by vendors - so a key differentiator is if
the
vendor can show that they have solved a similar business problem for
another government customer," he said.
+04: SCOTTISH TENANTS MAKE SMART PAYMENTS.
Some 400 tenants of a Scottish housing association can now make rent
payments at their local post office using a smartcard. Ferguslie Park
Housing Association in Paisley is the first to adopt the Alliance &
Leicester Commercial Bank Housing Card, which is aimed at
associations with less than 1,000 tenants.
When swiped at the counter, the tenant's identity is captured along
with the amount paid, and the information sent electronically to the
housing association. The card and wallet are supplied free of charge
to
the association, which can apply its own branding. "The idea of a
card-
based scheme was appealing to us, because it is easier for tenants
than
payment books and reduces our administrative costs," said Lilian
Peters, finance manager at Ferguslie Park.
According to Fola Ogunjobi, policy officer at the National Housing
Federation (http://www.housing.org.uk), members are increasingly
realising the potential for technology to help them with housing
management issues.
"Introducing technologies, such as smartcards, facilitates rent
collection and payment, but the change needs to be communicated
effectively to tenants. Housing associations should engage with their
tenants to ensure that everyone understands the change and that the
process of transition is smooth," she said.
++NEWS IN BRIEF:
+05: DRIVING STANDARDS: The newly formed Local E-
Government Standards Body will publicise its work through a series of
October roadshows across the UK. The events aim to promote
knowledge-sharing and interoperability within e-government schemes:
http://www.localegov-standards.gov.uk .
+06: FACE VALUE: Face recognition should be the standard
biometric technology used for travel visas and residence permits,
according to the European Commission. The proposals, unveiled at a
summit in Greece this month, will now be submitted to the European
Parliament for consideration:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/face1 .
+07: PROPERTY MAGNET: One million searches have now been
conducted on the National Land Information System according to The
Land Registry. The online service, which allows solicitors to access
property information from councils, Land Registry offices, the Coal
Authority and the Environment Agency, aims to reduce property
search times from weeks to minutes:
http://www.nlis.org.uk/docs .
[Section one ends].
++SPONSORED CASE STUDIES: SHARING EXPERIENCE IN E-
GOVERNMENT.
In this section, companies highlight e-government partnerships of
which they are proud. Readers interested in exploring these issues are
invited to participate in the Electronic Government Exchange in
London on 19 November. Each study will inform a discussion group
and sponsors are offering guest places for public sector readers. For
details follow the links:
+INTERACTIVE LOCAL PLAN FOR NORTH KESTEVEN
Local authorities are required to publish documentation informing
interested parties of their planning intentions. This Lovell Johns
case
study details a project to combine GIS data with Ordnance Survey data
to allow seamless navigation around the district:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/nkest1 .
+OPEN DATABASES A CORNERSTONE OF E-GOVERNMENT
While data sharing underpins e-government, key systems such as
spatial or map-based information can lock data in. Now Intergraph is
leading an industry initiative to define a free interoperability kit
for
open spatial data storage within Oracle databases:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/opendata1 .
+COVENTRY REVIEW OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Cognos are sponsoring a session at the forthcoming Electronic
Government Exchange at which the Coventry LSP Performance
Management System will be discussed, including issues such as
working in a multi-agency partnership and data sharing protocols and
procedures:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/cognos1 .
+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: FOCUS
- US ELECTION.
+08: THE MESSAGE, NOT THE MEDIUM?
by Derek Parkinson [log in to unmask] .
The 2004 race for the US presidency has already felt the effects of
the
internet, but its strength and direction over the course of the entire
campaign has yet to be seen. Howard Dean may have moved centre-
stage on the back of a wave of support that owed much to online
activists, but whether this could secure him the Democrat nomination,
still less the presidency, is doubtful.
Nevertheless, following Dean's progress the power of online
supporters to turn a no-hoper into a genuine candidate is beyond
dispute. "Even his own mama laughed at his ambitions to be
president," Phil Noble director of PoliticsOnline
(http://www.politicsonline.com) told a meeting hosted by the e-
democracy think-tank VoxPolitics to discuss the likely impact of the
internet on the 2004 election
(http://www.voxpolitics.com/2004invite.shtml). "But Dean is thought
to have raised around fifteen million dollars since the beginning of
this
year, mainly through online campaigning," he said.
Jim Ledbetter of Time magazine emphasised that raising funds is only
one ingredient in a successful campaign formula, citing John
McCain's bid for the 2000 election. "John McCain raised 2.6 million
dollars in only eight days over the internet. The problem was that it
was the wrong eight days," he said. "It was too close to the New
Hampshire primary and too late to spend the money on TV
effectively." The basic recipe for a presidential campaign remains the
same, according to Ledbetter. "Does the internet change anything?
There's no doubt it produces cost-savings and efficiencies but the
major factors are money, TV, and the fact that around 50 per cent of
eligible voters don't bother," he said.
Yet a key feature in Dean's campaign has been the willingness of his
supporters to organise themselves at a local level, arranging meetings
and lobby groups using the internet rather than traditional
centralised
campaign structures. "Through meetup (http://www.meetup.com), the
Dean campaign has organised 300 events without him spending a
single penny," said Noble. In some States, this has given Dean a
foothold with no paid staff on the ground, and much of this support
comes from people who are new to political activism. "Something like
70 per cent of donors have never made donations to a political party
before," he added. In addition to swelling Dean's war-chest, the so-
called "Deanyboppers" have also kept a protective eye on media
coverage of their candidate. "If there is negative coverage in the
press
for example, hundreds of pro-Dean letters will pour in within days,"
said Noble.
Online activism has clearly given the Dean campaign momentum on
the ground, but it is not clear this will move the upper reaches of
the
party machinery his way. "Early in elections, the idea of the outsider
is
always attractive, people like Gary Hart, Jerry Brown and John
McCain in the past, but the party always chooses the candidate that
the
party wants," argued Jim Ledbetter.
Whether or not Dean lasts the course, his campaign has won over
strategists from across the spectrum. All candidates are now running
web sites linked to various online fundraising and lobbying
initiatives.
Interestingly, there appears to be no easy formula for repeating the
Dean magic. For example, Democrat rivals John Kerry
(http://www.johnkerry.com) and Joe Lieberman launched campaign
sites (http://www.joe2004.com), yet their online initiatives have
failed
to make Kerry more visible or Lieberman more appealing. Even
President Bush has got in on the act, relaunching his own campaign
site (www.georgewbush.com), but to little effect. "It's a great web
site,
but there's no traffic," said Noble.
By contrast, Wesley Clark's campaign (http://www.clark04.com) was
given a significant boost by online campaigners. He received around
50,000 online letters urging him to run, and subsequently collected
1.6
million dollars in online pledges. "Clark has said that he wouldn't
have
run without the online support," said Noble.
Of course, a spectacular start to a campaign is easier than a winning
finish, and in the latter stages other factors will come into play.
"It's
true that Dean has drawn people into politics who aren't normally
there," said BBC foreign correspondent Gordon Corera. "But these are
mainly white, middle class voters. It's not clear that he can make an
impression on the black or Hispanic vote, for example."
According to Corera, neither Clark nor Dean may be able to address
the single most important concern for voters. "Dean and Clark may
take advantage of anger over the war in Iraq but in 2004, votes are
likely to be decided by the economy," he said.
It would be easy to announce the beginning of a new era in politics,
overlooking the fact that the decisive issues tend to be old and
simple.
Elections are won and lost by the size of the turkey on the table,
says
this line of thought. Yet it's possible that technology has allowed
Dean
to tap into equally old political values. "I think it's real simple,"
said
Noble of Dean's success. "It's about a man saying what he believes
and what needs to be done and asking people 'Can you help?' It's
about the message."
[Section two ends.]
++SPONSORED NOTICE: eHEALTH2003
eHealth 2003 on 16 and 17 October at Olympia, London will be a
unique conference bringing together leading professional eHealth
organisations in the UK and internationally. It will feature eminent
leaders in health technology research, clinical practice and health
service management.
Implementation is a key theme and the programme covers management
and leadership, global perspectives on innovation and best practice in
eHealth. Parallel sessions are grouped into three streams: Policy to
practice; Innovation and best practice; and Patient empowerment.
Videoconferencing and satellite will link other parts of the world to
the
London event. For more information and to register see:
http://www.ehealth2003.org .
[Sponsored notice ends].
++SECTION THREE: FOCUS
- ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
+07: THE LESSONS THAT MUST BE LEARNED
By Derek Parkinson [log in to unmask] .
The realisation of the National Health Service's IT modernisation plan
will stand, or fall, on three legs - electronic prescriptions,
appointment
bookings and health records. Of these, electronic health records are
both the most potentially rewarding and the most difficult to get
right.
The challenge ahead here can be seen in the results of the Electronic
Record Development and Implementation Programme (ERDIP -
http://www.nhsia.nhs.uk/erdip), set up by the NHS Information
Authority to explore issues ranging from public response to records to
technology and management issues through a set of pilot projects.
Before ERDIP, there was scant knowledge of this kind, either in the
UK or abroad.
"There is very little to draw on. The US is preparing to go down the
same road as us, and New Zealand has had some experience with
aggregating information on coronary heart disease, for example," says
Dr Nick Gault, who worked on the Devon ERDIP project
(http://fastlink.headstar.com/erdip2). "But the only place that comes
close to what we're doing in the UK is Malaysia," he says.
Although relatively small in scale compared to the task of fully
implementing Integrated Care Records Service (ICRS), the 19 ERDIP
pilot projects were set up to explore public response to records;
technology and management issues and EHR applications such as
information sharing with local authority agencies, and sharing between
GPs, hospitals and emergency services. This work has laid down some
useful foundations on which to build ICRS.
Targets for electronic records set out in the document 'Delivering
21st
Century IT Support for the NHS'
(http://www.doh.gov.uk/ipu/whatnew/deliveringit) required that all
NHS trusts and primary care providers must have elements of
electronic health records in place by 2005. It was therefore crucial
for
ERDIP to yield up useful information, even if it was bad news.
Patients that took part commonly expressed concerns about sharing
information with organisations outside the health sector such as the
police, social services, and commercial organisations. Encouragingly,
most patients found the medical terminology comprehensible, with 75
per cent of Hadfield patients "understanding what they saw to a great
extent", although Bury Knowle recommended information support
workers to "help patients access their records and other health
information".
However, the Wirral ERDIP project
(http://fastlink.headstar.com/wirral), which provided cancer patients
with access to their records, found that many patients were
dissatisfied
with the information they received. They wanted to be given "a great
deal of specific information at all stages of their care". The report
identified serious problems with the lack of overall standardisation
in
the way health information is recorded, and described most written
health information as: "Chaotic, fragmented, unco-ordinated and
unregulated".
Additionally, the Wirral team discovered variation in the way data
such
as the patient's name and address is currently recorded and used.
Combined with interoperability problems, this meant that many ERDIP
sites found it difficult to extract information from general practice
and
hospital systems.
The benefit to patients of sharing information was not always clear.
For example, the Devon project reported a "lack of convincing data on
effectiveness". However, an independent evaluation of the Hadfield
project recorded some diabetic patients who reported monitoring their
blood sugar, weight, blood pressure and diet as a result of accessing
their records. The doctor in charge of the practice recognised changes
in patients' behaviour as a result of giving them more information
about their health.
Dorset identified broader cultural factors as a barrier to change
noting
that GP practices are often similar to small businesses. For example,
the Devon project found that "some professionals still see patient
interaction with records as a threat to their autonomy and authority",
an
attitude that was not helped by a significant lack of IT-literacy at
the
primary care level.
Overall, there was enormous variety in the use of IT, highlighted by
some practices that were virtually paper-less, while others kept
electronic records for payments only and stored most patient data on
paper. Dorset found that 16 per cent of all primary care staff "were
clearly not comfortable with computer use", while 28 per cent of
nurses said they were ill at ease with computers. The report
recommended tailored, intensive training, including basic typing
skills
in some cases.
It is clear that ICRS faces some tough challenges. It must be of
particular concern that some ERDIP projects recorded few practical
benefits of sharing information with patients, which could be used as
an excuse to go slow by those health agencies that find it difficult
to
migrate to ICRS for other reasons. If the system is to succeed, this
must not be allowed to happen.
[Section three ends].
++SPONSORED NOTICE: EGOVERNMENT INTERNET TV
CHANNEL LAUNCHES.
Last month saw the launch of eGovernment-Vision.TV, the internet
television channel to help local authorities address the modernisation
agenda.
eGovernment-Vision.TV has been created by GBTV in association
with IDeA, SOLACE, SOCPO, Socitm and the ODPM, with E-
Government Bulletin as an editorial advisor. The launch programme
featured E-Government Minister Phil Hope interviewed by John
Sergeant, plus 'Question Time' style debates examining the key issues
affecting councils.
A national projects feature looking at Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) included a panel discussion and reports on key
successes across the UK. The programme can be viewed at:
http://www.egovernment-vision.tv .
[sponsored notice ends].
++END NOTES.
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ISSN 1476-6310
+PERSONNEL
- EDITORIAL.
Editor - Dan Jellinek [log in to unmask]
Deputy editor - Derek Parkinson [log in to unmask]
Reporter - Mel Poluck [log in to unmask]
Technician - Pete Hall [log in to unmask]
Correspondent - Phil Cain [log in to unmask] .
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[log in to unmask] .
A searchable archive of our back-issues can be found on our web site:
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[Issue ends].
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