From: Dan Jellinek [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 11 December 2007 19:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: E-Government Bulletin, 11 December 2007: Exclusive:
E-Government Take-Up 'Cuts Carbon Footprints'; Websites Massacre -
government sites slashed.
+++E-GOVERNMENT BULLETIN
- ISSUE 253, 11 December 2007.
- A Headstar Publication
http://www.headstar.com .
IN THIS ISSUE: Exclusive: E-Government Take-Up 'Cuts Carbon Footprints';
Websites Massacre - government sites slashed.
Please forward this free service to others so they can subscribe - full
details at the end.
We never pass on email addresses.
++Special notice: Mobile and Flexible Working in the Public Sector
- 23 January 2008, RIBA, London
- 100 Pound Early Bird Discount for Pre-Christmas Booking
http://www.headstar-events.com/flexible08/ .
Mobile and flexible working practices can help public sector bodies'
staff work closer to the citizen and reduce the carbon footprint of your
organisation. And flexible working practices ensure that services can be
delivered 24-7.
Headstar is pleased to announce the third annual conference on Mobile
and Flexible Working in the Public Sector will take place on 23 January
2008, at RIBA, central London. A superb speaker line-up features Stephen
Regan, Head of Management and Technologies Programmes at Cranfield
University; and Colin Rowland of Cheshire County Council. Book before
Christmas to qualify for a 100 pound discount. To see the full programme
and to register online, see:
http://www.headstar-events.com/flexible08/ .
And for information about sponsoring or exhibiting at the event please
email Claire Clinton on:
[log in to unmask]
or call her on 01273 231291.
[Special notice ends].
++Issue 253 Contents.
01: E-Government Take-Up 'Can Slash Carbon Footprints'
- Exclusive preview of government research from Headstar conference.
02: Senior Managers 'Wasting Online Opportunities'
- Research finds skills gap at top of public bodies.
News in Brief: 03: Websites Massacre - government sites slashed; 04:
E-Democracy TV - conference sessions online; 05: E-Auction Action - 'how
to' guide.
Section Two: Conference Report - Techno-Footprint '07.
06: ICT - Energy-Guzzling Villain or Transport-Cutting Hero? Dan
Jellinek reports from Headstar's inaugural event on technology
sustainability, where new research was unveiled demonstrating how ICT
has the dual potential to help or hinder public sector bodies'
carbon reduction strategies.
[Contents ends].
++Section One: News.
+01: E-Government Take-Up 'Cuts Carbon Footprints'.
Increasing citizen take-up of online services could slash public bodies'
carbon footprints, according to government research due to be published
in January.
The study, previewed exclusively at Headstar's recent 'Techno-
Footprint' conference, was carried out by consultants 'Best Foot
Forward' for the Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) based on data supplied by Sunderland City Council.
Although ICT can have a negative impact on energy use, the research
shows that carbon savings from online service provision greatly outweigh
the losses, Peter Blair, head of e-government take-up at DCLG, told the
conference.
E-government offers valuable possibilities for environmental impact
reduction relating to sharing services, reducing duplication, cutting
waste, and removing the need for people to travel to offices to access
services, he said.
"Each minute spent driving to the Town Hall uses more than 20 times the
energy of a minute spent transacting on the internet. And there is
amazing demand for online services if you get it right - in Hackney, 81%
of parents and carers applied for secondary school places online."
Overall, the research will show that annual reductions of CO2 emissions
averaging 28 per cent can be obtained from moving services online in
five areas: planning, schools, registrar's services, environmental
services and council tax, he said. Work was now being carried out to use
national figures on school applications, council tax payments and other
sources to scale up the projections and extrapolate to a figure for
potential national savings, Blair told E-Government Bulletin.
NOTE: Conference presentations can be accessed at:
http://www.headstar-events.com/technofootprint .
For a full report from Techno-Footprint '07, see Section Two, this
issue.
+02: Senior Managers 'Wasting Online Opportunities'.
Senior local government managers are less likely to use interactive
online tools than their more junior counterparts, missing opportunities
to build their skills in this area due to cultural and technological
difficulties, according to new research from the Chartered Management
Institute.
Some 40% of junior managers are likely to use e-learning tools,
compared with around 35% of middle managers, just over 30% of
senior managers and around 22% of directors, the research finds.
Similar patterns were detected in the use of blogs and social
networking sites, albeit at lower overall levels of usage. The only two
areas where directors and senior managers show higher usage than
middle and junior management were online video and online audio
tools such as podcasting, the research found.
The results overall mean that "Easy opportunities to build skills are
being missed, as senior execs in the local government fail to use the
blogs, social networking sites or online resources at their disposal,"
the
institute said last week.
Among local government and emergency services managers who used
e-learning tools, the biggest reason given for favouring use of such
resources was the ability to 'dip in and out as time allows', with 56%
citing this. Around a third (29 per cent) said 'constant availability
for
reference was a benefit of e-learning, and 23% said cost-effectiveness
was a factor.
The report collating figures from both public and private sectors can be
downloaded from the CMI website:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/cmi1 .
And selected results extracted from the local government and
emergency services respondent only - 243 out of a total of 998
respondents in the main report - can be found in a CMI statement
reproduced in full on the E-Government Bulletin Live blog:
http://www.headstar.com/egblive/?p=69
++News In Brief:
+03: Websites Massacre: The UK government is in the process of
slashing the number of websites it runs from 951 to 28, according to
evidence presented last week to the Public Accounts Committee of the
House of Commons. By the end of 2011 all the sites will be merged
into two portals, 'Direct.gov' for citizens and 'Businesslink' for
business, with 26 exceptions including the corporate websites of the
main government departments, Alan Bishop of the Central Office of
Information told the committee:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/pac5 .
+04: E-Democracy TV: Five of the sessions from Headstar's recent 'E-
Democracy '07' conference have been broadcast on the politics
internet TV channel 18 Doughty Street. They can now be accessed as
follows:
Keynote speech by Professor Stephen Coleman, University of Leeds:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/edemtv1 .
'The people's voice or a waste of time? Online petitions,' featuring
speakers from 10 Downing Street, Scottish Parliament and University
of Leeds:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/edemtv2 .
Local e-democracy worldwide, featuring speakers from UK, US and
New Zealand:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/edemtv3 .
New paths to political engagement, featuring Dominic Tinley,
Parliament website:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/edemtv4 .
'Question Time,' featuring MPs Theresa May, Andrew Miller and Ed
Davey:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/edemtv5 .
+05: E-Auction Action: A guide on 'How to be successful in e-
auctions' was published last week by the government-funded Regional
Centres of Excellence. The guide covers assessment of whether an e-
auction is appropriate in each procurement situation; sourcing a
technology supplier; running collaborative e-auctions with other
councils; and managing contracts after auctions are held:
http://www.rcoe.gov.uk/rce/core/page.do?pageId=39123 .
At the same time, Treasury and Procurement Minister Angela Eagle
has issued a call for all government departments and agencies to look
at how they might use e-auctions as part of their procurement strategy:
http://www.ogc.gov.uk/About_OGC_news_7758.asp .
[Section One ends].
++Special notice: Shared Services in the Public Sector 2008
- Date Announcement: 04 March 2008
With a dual focus on improving public services and enhancing
efficiency, Shared Services remains a vital policy area for public
sector
bodies of all sizes. The sharing of both back-office and front-line
services between different public sector bodies, and between public
and private sector bodies, can create economies of scale and improve
services.
Headstar is pleased to announce the second annual conference on
Shared Services in the Public Sector will take place on 4 March 2008
in central London. Please hold the date in your diary, and watch this
space for more information.
And for information about sponsoring or exhibiting at the event please
email Claire Clinton on:
[log in to unmask]
or call her on 01273 231291.
[Special notice ends].
++Sponsored notice: Nomad Support Service to Local Government
- At the centre of mobile and flexible working
http://www.projectnomad.org.uk
In recent months, Nomad has been approached by a number of local
authorities to provide an on-site service to assist with the development
of mobile, flexible and wireless working agendas. Examples of this
include speaking at leadership days, workshops with senior
management and CEOs and specific service-based sessions to transfer
skills and experience. As a result of this request and other enquiries
from local authorities, Nomad is establishing a fee-based service
offering across a range of areas.
Areas of service include: Events, Strategic review, Service
mobilisation, Health check, Customised review, Ad-hoc support, and
Wireless advice. For more information, please contact Nomad on
01223 699052 or email us:
[log in to unmask] .
[Special notice ends].
++Section Two: Conference Report
- Techno-Footprint '07.
+06: ICT - Energy-Guzzling Villain or Transport-Cutting Hero?
by Dan Jellinek.
Public sector IT managers will soon be forced to slash the energy their
systems use, Chris Head of the Society of IT Management (Socitm)
told delegates at Headstar's recent conference 'Techno-Footprint: ICT
and Sustainability in the Public Sector'.
The event (
http://www.headstar-events.com/technofootprint )
was used as the launch-pad for Socitm's new report 'Green ICT?
Current research into the environmental impact of ICT' (
http://www.socitm.gov.uk/socitm/Library/Green+IT+report.htm ).
"The Climate Change Act is going to have an impact on the UK public
sector very soon, alongside EU directives on energy use," said Head.
"Someone is going to be coming round and asking how much energy
you use - and you don't want to be caught out as the villain."
The parts of the ICT lifecycle having the largest impact on carbon use
are the usage phase - with servers and desktop PCs gobbling up energy
- and in their manufacture, he said. By comparison, the use of excess
cardboard and packaging and transport issues in distributing
computers, and issues about disposal of electronic waste, are lesser
impact issues.
"Computers use 10-20 times more carbon per unit weight than a fridge
to manufacture, and then you use them for three or four years and
throw them away," said Head. "Factories that make computer chips,
for example, use huge amounts of noxious chemicals and huge
amounts of water to wash the chemicals away.
"There can be precious little difference in purchase price between two
computers, but enormous difference in carbon emissions used in
manufacture."
EU procurement laws restrict the ways in which ICT equipment can be
selected, but "there is nothing to stop you asking questions about
manufacture," he said.
Once purchased, public sector bodies should try to use machines for as
long as possible, and not dispose of them every few years, said Head.
"Replacing old with new is not necessarily a good idea. Is it adequate
to do the job? You don't necessarily need the latest high-powered
super-duper processor for what you need, which might just be Word
and Outlook. There are ways of extending computer life."
But the largest part of the ICT carbon footprint is found in its energy
use, he said. "Do you actually know how much energy is being used in
your datacentre? British Computer Society figures show datacentres
are horrifically inefficient."
Head cited a 'switch-off' campaign run by Chesterfield Borough
Council to encourage all staff to switch all computers and other
equipment off at the plug each night. "They saved a lot of money, but
it was not a quick one-off campaign. It was a concerted effort."
However, he acknowledged that in some areas of ICT it is hard to keep
track of sustainability issues because the field is changing so fast.
"With manufacture of screens, for instance, the figures changed even
while we were doing the research."
Earlier in the conference Peter Blair, head of the e-government take-up
campaign at the Department for Communities and Local Government,
offered delegates a sneak preview of another piece of new research
showing that ICT need not always be the villain of the piece when it
comes to sustainability. The transfer of services to citizens onto the
web has the potential to generate huge amounts of carbon savings, he
said.
The study, undertaken by consultants 'Best Foot Forward' with
Sunderland City Council, is due to be published in full early in the
New Year. Blair said it will show that e-government offers valuable
possibilities for environmental impact reduction relating to sharing
services, reducing duplication, cutting waste, and removing the need
for people to travel to offices to access services.
"Each minute spent driving to the Town Hall uses more than 20 times
the energy of a minute spent transacting on the internet," he said. "And
there is amazing demand for online services if you get it right - in
Hackney, 81% of parents and carers applied for secondary school
places online."
And Warwickshire County Council had found that 55% of visits to its
website would have otherwise resulted in a contact with the council,
with associated costs in terms of officer time and office space, Blair
said.
Overall the research found that annual reductions of CO2 emissions
averaging 28 per cent could be obtained from moving services online
in five areas: planning, schools, registrar's services, environmental
services and council tax. The biggest savings were found in schools,
where moving pupil applications online cut huge amounts of paper
needed to print application packs and reduced staff time needed to
process applications. Potential savings were found of nearly 3,000 kg
of paper.
The final report of the Sunderland study will include scaled-up
projections to create a national estimate of savings potential from e-
government carbon efficiencies, Blair said.
[Section two ends].
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++Sponsored Notice: EDem2008 Conference
- 29-30 September 2008
- Danube University Krems, Austria
Questions to be asked by the annual EDem2008 conference in Krems,
Austria - organised by the Danube University Krems with the Vienna
University of Economics - will include:
- To what extent can e-democracy support and enrich our democracy?
- How can e-participation be integrated into current political and
public
administration processes?
- How can we ensure that the greatest number of people are reached?
- What are the limitations and the risks of e-democracy?
The attendance fee will be 95 euros. Papers can now be submitted for
consideration in either of the event's two parallel languages, English
or
German, by 15 April 2008. For more information please visit:
http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/egov
[Sponsored notice ends].
++END NOTES.
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ISSN 1476-6310
+PERSONNEL
Editor - Dan Jellinek.
Associate Editors - Derek Parkinson, Mel Poluck.
Marketing and Sales Team - Claire Clinton, Jo Knell, Will Knox.
[Issue 251 ends].
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