From: Dan Jellinek [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 06 January 2006 13:55
To: egb-html
Subject: E-Government Bulletin, 06 January 06 - FoI and deleted files;
Swansea and Capgemini; E-government in Greece.
E-Government Bulletin, HTML version:
Please click on the attachment to read.
See below for plain text version.
+++E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN
- ISSUE 202, 06 January 2006.
IN THIS ISSUE - FoI and deleted files; Swansea and Capgemini; E- government
in Greece.
Please forward this free service to others so they can subscribe - full
details at the end.
We never pass on email addresses.
++Special Notice: Flexible Working in the Public Sector
- An E-Government Bulletin Seminar
- 31 January 2006, Central London
http://www.headstar-events.com/flexible/ .
Flexible working is a vital topic for the public sector. A recent Office of
Government Commerce report found that: "Flexibility has become the byword.
The need for efficiency gains [has] led to new approaches . . . people,
information and communication technology and workspace need to complement
each other so overall flexibility can be achieved."
The authors of this report, Professor Virginia Gibson and Rachael Luck, are
our keynote speakers, joining a strong line-up of case studies and expert
analysis and advice. Places cost 295 pounds plus VAT for public sector and
395 for private sector delegates. See:
http://www.headstar-events.com/flexible/
[Special notice ends].
++Contents - E-Government Bulletin Issue 202.
Section One: News.
01: Bodies 'Should Search Deleted Data' for FoI Requests
- Files in trash not gone for ever, says Information Tribunal.
02: Watmore To Head PM's Delivery Unit
- Government's Chief Information Officer leaves after 15 months.
03: Second UK Court to Send Fine Warnings by Text
- SMS more effective than letters for payment reminders.
+04: Local Authority Sites Beat Private Sector Download Times
- Top company web sites slower than council counterparts.
News in Brief: 05: E-Procurement Questions? - ask Colin Whitehouse;
06: Major Deal - Swansea and Capgemini; 07: Opening Closed - Spanish open
source vote; 08: Best Man: Isle of Man award; 09:
Almost There - council targets.
Section Two: Conference Report - Association of Geographic Information.
10: A Critical Piece of Public Service Infrastructure: The government
recognises that information linked to location is at the heart of good
policy-making. Roy Newell reports.
Section Three: International Focus - E-Government in Greece.
11: Time To Change Institutional Mindsets: The Greek government recognises
the potential of new technologies to improve services and increase
transparency. But, finds Titi Velopoulou, its policies fall some way short
of what is needed to close the country's growing digital divide.
Section Four: The E-Government Bulletin Vaults - From Our Archive, January
2000.
12: Millennium Bug Fails to Bring Down the Government: This time five years
ago all eyes were on the government's millennium bug monitoring centre. Then
nothing much happened. Our archive report tells the story.
[Contents ends].
++Special Notice: GIS In the Public Sector
- An EGB Seminar, 8 March 2006
- Royal Institute of British Architects, London.
A huge proportion of public sector service data has an address or location
element. The technologies developed to handle map and location data are
known as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and include web-based
clickable map interfaces; databases that can be searched by postcode; and
mobile systems holding digital maps.
It is vital not only for technology managers but for all senior managers to
have a broad and up-to-date sense of what technologies are out there; how
they could improve services; and how they could save your organisation time
and money. Our conference will bring together a line-up of experts in this
field. For more information see:
http://www.headstar-events.com/gis .
[Special Notice ends].
++Section One: News.
+01: Bodies 'Should Search Deleted Data' for FoI Requests.
Public bodies responding to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests should
search archived information and even some data that has been deleted but
traces of which are still present on their IT systems, according to a
landmark ruling by the Information Tribunal.
The tribunal, which was set up to hear appeals against decisions made by the
Information Commissioner's Office - the first point of public appeal in FoI
cases - recently published the results of its first batch of cases (
http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/decisions/decisions.htm ).
One appeal came from a Royal Mail employee who made a request for
information on the number of times his personnel records had been accessed,
information that was routinely erased from Royal Mail systems. The Royal
Mail claimed the information was therefore not available, a claim disputed
by the employee.
The tribunal - whose rulings can only be challenged in the High Court -
upheld the Information Commissioner's decision in support of the Royal Mail,
as attempts had been made to retrieve data from back-up systems (
http://fastlink.headstar.com/foi7 ).
However the tribunal criticised the Royal Mail's data retention policy, and
emphasised that public authorities need clear policies for erasing
information from their systems to guard against situations where deletions
are made to avoid complying with requests. "If on receiving a request a
public authority decides to delete relevant information, within the period
of 20 working days within which a response must be made, such deletion would
not be in the ordinary course of business and would be unlawful," said the
ruling.
Furthermore even some types of deleted information should be located and
handed over in response to FoI requests, the ruling said. These types
include information contained in desktop 'trash' folders and on back-up
tapes. The use of specialist retrieval software should also be considered,
although its cost could be taken into consideration in determining whether
or not its use is reasonable, said the tribunal. In cases where current and
archived records are both available, authorities should provide the version
in use at the time the request was received, it said.
The tribunal also highlighted the need for more guidance in this area.
"The Information Commissioner should give serious consideration to issuing
guidance to public authorities on this matter, and to enquiring .
. . whether an authority has considered the recovery of deleted material,"
it said.
+02: Watmore To Head PM's Delivery Unit.
Ian Watmore, the UK government's first Chief Information Officer
(CIO) and head of the e-Government Unit in the Cabinet Office (eGU -
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-government/ ), is to leave his post after
just 15 months to become head of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (PMDU -
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/pmdu/ ).
In his new role, starting next week, Watmore will oversee the delivery of
the government's highest priority public sector targets and aim to improve
the efficiency of the Civil Service, reporting to Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus
O'Donnell.
"He will co-ordinate work across the government to deliver key areas the
Prime Minister wants delivered such as crime, education, transport and
health," a Cabinet Office spokesperson said.
The news comes just weeks after Watmore launched a draft 'Transformational
Government' strategy to improve the quality and efficiency of public
services through technology (
http://www.cio.gov.uk/transformational_government/).
However the detail of this policy will now be left to his successor,
although Watmore will retain a strong interest in this field, according to a
colleague.
"A huge percentage of delivery reforms will have some link to IT, a major
part of government expenditure," Prime Minister's Delivery Unit member Fiona
Driscoll told E-Government Bulletin. "He's done a good job of getting the
CIO community to work together."
A successor to his role of CIO will be sought, with the future appointee
reporting to Watmore. In his new post he succeeds Sir Michael Barber, who is
leaving for consultants McKinsey.
NOTE: Subscribers to the E-Government Bulletin archives can access an
exclusive interview with Ian Watmore, 'Transformation Champion Takes on
Whitehall Culture Challenge,' issue 201, December 2005. To learn how to
subscribe email: [log in to unmask] .
+03: Second UK Court to Send Fine Warnings by Text.
A court service in London is to become the second in the UK to use text
messaging to warn offenders to pay court fines or risk imprisonment,
following successful trials of the system in Staffordshire, E-Government
Bulletin has learned.
The Staffordshire scheme used SMS text messaging to remind offenders to pay
magistrate court fines. Andrew Williams, Senior Enforcement Manager at Her
Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) Staffordshire, said some 75 per cent of 150
offenders texted paid up on receipt of the warnings, which said: 'Operation
Payback - pay up or get locked up. Contact this number now' followed by the
court's phone number.
The North West London Area Enforcement Office is to begin using a similar
system later this month, Willian said, and it is now "highly likely" the
scheme will be rolled out by other courts services in the UK.
The initiative was devised as part of 'Operation Payback 3'
(http://www.dca.gov.uk/magist/payback/payback.htm ), a national crackdown on
court fine dodgers from the Department of Constitutional Affairs. "It was
something different, something to keep offenders on their toes," said
Williams. "We are increasing the pressure to make people realise they cannot
get away with not paying."
The court normally sees a 40 per cent success rate following contact by
letter or home visit, according to Williams. In future, texts will also be
sent to fine payers who have fallen behind on payment of instalments.
+04: Local Authority Sites Beat Private Sector Download Times.
English local authority web sites beat the UK's main corporate sites on
average download speeds, according to new research published by the Office
of the Deputy Prime Minister ( http://fastlink.headstar.com/perf1 ).
The average download speed of local authority sites was found to be
23 seconds, faster than a sample of the sites of major companies including
Marks and Spencer and Vodafone, which averaged a download time of 26
seconds.
The 'Local authority web site performance report' found web site
availability across all local authority sites to be "outstanding," with very
few sites dropping below 95 per cent availability. Sites were classed as
unavailable if an error message appeared on screen, or pages did not
download within 60 seconds.
The report recommends that web pages should be no larger than 100 kilobytes
to ensure acceptable download times, and that sites should use compression
tools where larger files occur. The survey was undertaken by web site
monitoring company Site Confidence.
News in Brief:
+05: E-Procurement Questions?: Readers are invited to submit
questions on any aspect of e-procurement and its implementation to the chair
of the National Project for e-Procurement, Colin Whitehouse.
Colin's answers will be published in our next issue. Please send your
questions to:
[log in to unmask] .
+06: Major Deal: Swansea Council is to outsource its IT functions and
customer services to Capgemini in a deal worth 83 million pounds over the
next 10 years, it was announced this week. A first phase, worth 64 million
pounds, will see Capgemini take over the running of IT systems, while a
second phase will see the company set up and run call centres, contact
centres and online services:
http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=10967
+07: Opening Closed: The Spanish Parliament has crushed a proposal
from a minority left-wing grouping for the government to switch to exclusive
use of open source software. Politicians decided by 290 votes to 15 to
support competition from all types of software:
http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/5174/194 .
+08: Best Man: An Isle of Man government project that uses Voice
Over IP to deliver innovative public services, 'Connect Mann', has won the
'Best corporate IP network' category at the Cisco Networkers Innovation
Awards:
http://www.gov.im/lib/news/treasury/governmentwinspr.xml .
+09: Almost There: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has
found the average local authority in England is now 97 per cent e-enabled
following last month's Implementing Electronic Government
(IEG) returns from all authorities, compared with a national target of 100
per cent by the end of 2005. The residual 3 per cent is accounted for by
unavoidable legal or operational barriers to e-enablement, the department
says:
http://www.localegov.gov.uk/ .
[Section One ends.]
++Special Notice: Email Management '06
Best Practice and Compliance in the Public Sector
12 April 2006, CBI Conference Centre, London
http://www.headstar-events.com/email/
With concerns about information law compliance and an urgent need to
maximise efficiency and productivity, public sector organisations need to
develop better strategies to manage their ever-growing email mountains.
Email Management '06 will provide a focus for sharing best practice.
Compare email retention and retrieval policies with your peers; formulate
policies for good HR practice and to improve productive time; minimise the
risks of virus infiltration, email abuse and security breaches; plan
requirements for infrastructure and storage solutions; realise the knowledge
management benefits from handling email effectively; and much more.
Attendance costs 295 pounds + VAT for public sector and 495 for private
sector. See:
http://www.headstar-events.com/email/
And for information on how to sponsor this event, email Laura O'Neil on
[log in to unmask] .
[Special Notice ends].
++Special Notice: E-Government Bulletin Online Archives
- Purchase Your Password Today.
Your trusty E-Government Bulletin - the largest circulation independent
e-government news source - is archived each month into a database searchable
by any keyword or phrase, as well as by issue number or date. You can also
access the complete contents of back issues in html, word and text format.
The archives extend back to February 1999, representing over six years'
worth of news and feature coverage of UK e-government issues.
To access this fabulous research resource, you will need to pay an annual
subscription fee of just 50 pounds for an individual user in the public,
charitable or voluntary sector, and 100 pounds per user in the private
sector, with discounted group licences available for multiple users and
organisations. To find out more please email:
[log in to unmask] .
[Special Notice ends].
++Section Two: Conference Report
- Association of Geographic Information.
+10: A Critical Piece of Public Service Infrastructure
by Roy Newell.
Geographic information is important because it helps government focus its
policies in areas where they are needed most; it is the key to helping
citizens find and access services; and most economic activity and
development is linked to geography, according to local e- government
minister Jim Fitzpatrick.
"Simply put, geographic information has a very important role to play in our
society today. If we ignore what it tells us, then the decisions we make,
and the public services we deliver, are much poorer as a result,"
Fitzpatrick told delegates at the annual conference of the Association for
Geographic Information held in London before Christmas (
http://www.agi.org.uk/ ).
In the UK we have some of the most up-to-date and best maintained geographic
infrastructure of any country in the world, said Fitzpatrick.
The challenge for the Office of Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is to help
strengthen communities by delivering high quality services, increased
efficiencies and reduced costs, and geographical information has a key role
in supporting this work, he said.
Fitzpatrick identified policies for asset management, sustainable
communities, land and property management, transport planning and
management, responding to fires and improving health and crime reduction as
areas linked to geographic information systems which are all of prime
interest to his department. An example is the Marine Bill, which will
introduce a streamlined system for planning and managing developments in
coastal and marine waters. It will also extend the scope for protecting and
restoring marine species and habitats, he said.
ODPM is also committed to working with all the key stakeholders to develop a
National Spatial Address Infrastructure, Fitzpatrick said. The government
wants to see effective provision of the most appropriate geographic
information, combining ease of access, and the ongoing maintenance and
improvement of the quality of the information, he said. Accordingly, last
year the Geographic Information Panel was formed, drawing members from both
the public and private sectors. Its initial work has focused on developing
an appropriate Geographic Information Strategy for the UK. Fitzpatrick said
that as minister responsible for the Ordnance Survey, he strongly supports
the work of the panel.
At a more local level, the new shared public sector technology
infrastructure Government Connect is the keystone of the local e-government
project, he said. This is because it will join up programmes, providers and
people at different levels so that users can access the services they need
easily, seamlessly and securely.
Geographic information will play a major part in underpinning this
programme, said Fitzpatrick.
Finally, many organisations, particularly in the charity sector, would like
to make greater use of geographic information, but are unable to afford more
than some basic paper mapping, he said. The voluntary, charity and
not-for-profit sectors provide important local and national partners for
government agencies and, indeed, ease pressures on some local and central
government bodies, he said. According to Fitzpatrick, Ordnance Survey is
looking at ways of making its data more readily available to such
organisations, possibly through its agreements with local and central
government.
The minister concluded that GIS "impacts on people's lives far more than
they probably realise. It underpins decision making and policy across
central and local government and many vital services depend on it."
[Section Two ends].
++Sponsored Notice: UK/US Elections - Lessons to be Learned?
- 16 January 2006, The Geological Society, Central London.
The Hansard Society is partnering with the Washington-based American
Enterprise Institution and Brookings Institute to organise the 'UK/US
Elections - Lessons to be learnt?' conference on 16 January 2006.
This major conference will reflect on the most recent US and UK elections
will bring experts together to discuss the fields of campaigning,
communications, public opinion, media and new media.
Michael Howard will be making one of his first major speeches since standing
down as Conservative Party leader, among other MPs, and speakers from the US
include Mark McKinnon, media adviser for President Bush's 2000 and 2004
election campaigns and Terry McAuliffe, former chair of the Democratic
National Committee. For more information see:
http://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/conference_2006.
[Sponsored Notice ends].
++Special Notice: Place Your Advertisement Here
- Reach more than 11,000 in e-government
- Largest opt-in/requested circulation in the sector.
E-Government Bulletin is the logical choice for advertising any e-government
service, product or job. We are the only email newsletter in our sector to
receive a circulation audit from ABC Electronic ( http://www.abce.org.uk ),
part of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. This shows we have the largest
opt-in/requested circulation in the sector:
http://www.abce.org.uk/search/headstar .
To find out more about advertising and sponsorship opportunities, please
email Claire Clinton on [log in to unmask] or phone her on
01273 231291.
[Special Notice ends].
++Section Three: International Focus
- E-Government in Greece.
+11: Time To Change Institutional Mindsets
by Titi Velopoulou.
The Greek government is keen to promote information and communication
technologies, as these are seen as an essential tool for improving the
competitiveness of the country, as well as delivering more open and
effective government.
However the take-up of new technologies remains very low in Greece compared
with that in other European countries. It is now the only EU member state
where use of the internet remains below 25 per cent, and recent research has
found that Greek citizens are generally not keen adopters of new
technologies.
Education, age and income appear to be the most important characteristics
that shape people's attitudes to technology, with levels of internet use
closely connected to the educational achievements and professional status of
Greek citizens. However many researchers suggest that socio-economic
characteristics of citizens are not the only factors in the appearance of a
technological divide. In Greece, the main reasons for not using home
computers does not appear to be cost or technophobia, but rather a lack of
awareness and familiarisation and a lack of applications that are able to
attract ordinary people. This leads to a lack of interest in technology.
This means that the provision of simple access to new technologies is not
the most effective way of tackling digital inclusion. Action that will break
down the barriers must include institutional and legislative changes, but
perhaps more importantly a change of mindset in government is also required.
To be effective, the public, private, and voluntary sectors need to
collaborate to support greater use of new technologies. The government has a
key role to play here, with the opportunity to adopt policies that promote
greater collaboration and take-up of services.
Although the Greek government has identified the digital divide as a
significant barrier for citizens to reap the benefits of the Information
Society, it has done little so far to bridge it. And the signs for the
future are not encouraging. For example, in the government's new digital
strategy for the period of 2006-2013, unveiled in July 2005, there is no
clear evidence of policy measures aimed at increasing the benefits of the
Information Society for citizens. While the strategy document recognises
that new digital services can improve productivity and quality of life,
there is no attempt to understand or raise awareness of the citizen's point
of view.
However, while it is unacceptable that many citizens could be left behind,
it is also unacceptable to force citizens to use digital services.
For that reason, a policy of social inclusion is needed that will improve
opportunities to use them. It's important that such a policy doesn't just
focus on home computers, but also takes into consideration other platforms
of communication and other channels like digital television and mobile
telephones. If the government is serious about improving social cohesion it
must look at the potential for these technologies to be adapted for use in
education and public administration.
Clearly this task carries with it many difficulties, not least because it
requires changes in the personal and social behavior in institutions and
social structures. But this is not an excuse for inaction.
NOTE: Titi Velopoulou works in the E-gov Lab at the University of Athens.
[Section Three ends].
++Special Notice: Test Your Site's Accessibility.
Headstar, the publishers of E-Government Bulletin, is offering a range of
independent, expert assessment packages to ensure your web services comply
with best practice and the law. We can provide you with a clear, detailed
report on the current access status of your site, and a list of tasks you
will need to carry out to ensure compliance with government requirements.
Reports also include results from general quality assurance tests such as
link-checking. Taking accessibility action benefits all users, will make
your site easier to maintain, and can improve your search engine rating!
Please note the service is tailored in particular to larger organisations
with major web sites or services.
For more information please email:
[log in to unmask] .
[Special notice ends].
++Section Four: The E-Government Bulletin Vaults
- From Our Archive, January 2000.
+12: Millennium Bug Fails to Bring Down the Government.
Five years ago, our January issue charted a long-awaited and widely- feared
event: the hatching of the dreaded millennium computer bug.
We reported that the government's Millennium Centre web site had received
almost 1.5 million hits in the few days between going live and the morning
of 4 January. More than 200 officials were responsible for feeding
information from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and all UK regions back
to the Millennium Centre team based in the Cabinet Office in Whitehall,
working 12-hour shifts to maintain operations 24 hours a day from 29
December 1999.
The original plan was to maintain 24-hour operations through to 7 January,
but with the absence of any serious Year 2000 computer problems staff were
preparing to stand down to ordinary working hours backed up by 24-hour
support on call from 4 January.
The team was set to continue to monitor the situation daily for several
months, however, as some observers believe problems could take some time to
surface.
Within government computer systems, there were several minor incidents
reported including "small problems with minor systems believed to have been
caused by the millennium bug" found by the Department of Health, and two
unspecified problems had been found by the Met Office, although these had
not prevented the office providing weather forecasts as usual.
However most departments were reporting a clean bill of health, with the
Ministry of Defence flying operational sorties in all types of aircraft and
the DTI, MAFF, DSS and HM Customs and Excise among those giving the all
clear.
In other news we reported on a National Audit Office report, 'Government on
the web', which said that the Cabinet Office and the Treasury needed to push
harder to increase the timely take-up of internet technologies including
public web sites by government departments and agencies. The Cabinet Office
should publish annual data on web use across government, the report found.
The report said that sites run by the former Department of Social Services
were well-used, but "lack any coherent overall plan and are run on very low
budgets with infrequent redesigns and without many facilities". And while
some business-facing agencies were beginning to spend significant sums on
external web sites, "in many large departments and agencies the level of
spending on the web site forms as yet only a tiny fraction of one per cent
of their budget for running costs." Lines of responsibility have also tended
to be fragmented, it said. See:
http://www.nao.gov.uk/pn/990087.htm
Also covered was the launch of NHS Direct Online, the internet arm of NHS
Direct, the government's nurse-led gateway to 24-hour health information and
advice. Increased interactivity was promised in due course, including the
opportunity for people with shared health problems to exchange views via
chat rooms.
[Section Four 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 a
particular address is subscribed, see:
http://www.headstar.com/egb/subs.html .
+TEN STANDARD: This newsletter conforms to the accessible Text
Email Newsletter (TEN) Standard, developed by our sister newsletter E-Access
Bulletin. For details see:
http://www.headstar.com/ten .
+COPYRIGHT NOTICE.
- Copyright 2006 Headstar Ltd.
Regular circulation or reproduction of the bulletin by third parties is
forbidden. Properly accredited articles (always including source details,
bulletin subscription details and web address) or entire single issues of
the bulletin (including this notice) may be forwarded to individuals or
groups of people as long as it is made clear that to receive a regular copy,
people must subscribe individually. For queries about article reproduction,
syndication or other copyright issues please email [log in to unmask] .
ISSN 1476-6310
+PERSONNEL
To contact us by email, please use our first names and add [log in to unmask]
- EDITORIAL.
Editor - Dan Jellinek
Deputy Editor - Derek Parkinson
Senior Reporter - Mel Poluck
Technical Advisors - Nick Apostolidis, Pete Hall.
- SPONSORSHIP AND ADVERTISING.
Marketing Executive - Claire Clinton
Marketing Assistant - Katie Wilkinson.
A searchable archive of our back-issues can be found on our web site:
http://www.headstar.com/egb .
[Issue ends].
--
This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by the
NorMAN MailScanner Service and is believed to be clean.
The NorMAN MailScanner Service is operated by Information Systems and
Services, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
====
This e-mail is intended solely for the addressee. It may contain private and
confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, please take
no action based on it nor show a copy to anyone. Please reply to this e-mail
to highlight the error. You should also be aware that all electronic mail
from, to, or within Northumbria University may be the subject of a request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and related legislation, and
therefore may be required to be disclosed to third parties.
This e-mail and attachments have been scanned for viruses prior to leaving
Northumbria University. Northumbria University will not be liable for any
losses as a result of any viruses being passed on.
************************************************************************************
Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion
list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic
study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html
*************************************************************************************
|
