Modern councils, modern services - access for all

Contents

Introduction..................................................................................................................... 2

The 2005 vision............................................................................................................... 4

E.enabled service delivery................................................................................................ 6

The route-map to the e.revolution.................................................................................. 7

What is to be done?....................................................................................................... 14

The pathfinders............................................................................................................. 19

General ESD................................................................................................................. 20

Wiltshire and Swindon................................................................................................... 20

BASE.GOV Partnership............................................................................................... 21

West Sussex Consortium.............................................................................................. 22

Access/inclusion Welland Partnership........................................................................ 22

Surrey............................................................................................................................ 22

Brent Council................................................................................................................. 23

Web access/UK-Online/Gateway Tameside, Kirklees and Waltham Forest............ 24

Sunderland..................................................................................................................... 24

Three Rivers................................................................................................................. 25

Camden.......................................................................................................................... 25

Norfolk........................................................................................................................... 25

Wolverhampton............................................................................................................. 26

Digital TV...................................................................................................................... 26

Suffolk/Ipswich/Babergh............................................................................................... 26

Somerset........................................................................................................................ 27

Smart cards Southampton/ North East Smartcard Consortium................................. 27

Cornwall......................................................................................................................... 28

e.Procurement Huntingdonshire.................................................................................. 28

Leeds............................................................................................................................. 29

Newham......................................................................................................................... 29

Land Use Planning Wandsworth.................................................................................. 30

Back office process/re-engineering Bromley............................................................. 30

Sedgemoor..................................................................................................................... 31

Kingston Upon Hull....................................................................................................... 31

Shepway......................................................................................................................... 32

Salford............................................................................................................................ 32

Post script...................................................................................................................... 33

Appendix 1..................................................................................................................... 34

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING IMPLEMENTING ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT STATEMENTS MARCH 20001............................................................................................................................ 34

Appendix 2..................................................................................................................... 38

PUBLICATIONS - A RANGE OF PUBLICATIONS IS AVAILABLE TO ASSIST AUTHORITIES: 38

Appendix 3..................................................................................................................... 39

PATHFINDER PROJECTS AND HOW THEY RELATE TO THE VISION................ 39

Appendix 4..................................................................................................................... 41

PATHFINDER PROJECTS AND HOW THEY RELATE TO THE VISION................ 41

Introduction

1.1 This paper marks the next significant step for achieving the e.revolution in English local government. It reiterates and develops the vision of the modern council that has achieved the e.revolution. It provides a route-map for this vision and describes what government, both central and local, and its partners now need to do. It invites all councils in England to work with, and learn from the pathfinders, so that everywhere there will be quality public services accessible by all.

1.2 The e.revolution is all about making the most of the new technologies to deliver, within the resources available, better quality and more accessible public services. It will mean doing things in radically new and different ways. Service delivery will be reengineered, there will be sharper democratic accountability with greater citizen participation. All of this means that throughout the public sector, including local government there will need to be fundamental changes which puts people their needs, expectations and wishes first.

1.3 To bring about this change every council will need a commitment at the highest level, both amongst Members and staff. It will be a commitment not only in broad terms to achieve the vision of an e.council, but equally a commitment to undertake the practical steps necessary. First there must be a clear strategy. Then the policy, procurement and technical issues in that strategy must be driven forward. Partnerships need to be developed. At all levels throughout the council a culture of innovation and learning needs to be fostered.

1.4 Councils are already making progress toward the e.revolution and are developing their plans, with local partners and communities, for electronic service delivery (ESD) by 2005. More still needs to be done by councils everywhere if they are to provide the accessible, convenient and high quality local services people rightly expect.

1.5 As the starting point for driving this agenda forward every council is producing an Implementing Electronic Government (IEG) statement to provide the necessary strategic framework. The IEG for each Council will be its local route-map to achieve the e.revolution. These local route maps will also embellish and refine the national route map set out in Chapter 3. When preparing their IEG, councils will wish to refer to this and the guidance at Appendix 1.

1.6 A councils IEG will be a broad framework strategy with key milestones. As councils implement their strategy, key issues will need to be addressed. As detailed in Chapter 4 these will range from developing leadership and tackling culture change to addressing legacy systems and developing dynamic partnerships to maximise the benefits of new technology.

1.7 To help councils the Government, along with the Local Government Association (LGA) and others, has established and is funding some 25 pathfinder partnerships. Their role, is to demonstrate the potential for service transformation, to help solve some of the technical, policy and management issues surrounding e.government, and to stimulate learning, innovation and the exchange of ideas throughout local government. All councils are invited to join this programme of learning and innovation centred on the work of the pathfinders. For details of how to do this please see Chapter 5.

The 2005 vision

2.1 People want high quality services. They also want to live in communities that are safe, prosperous and have a high quality environment. People want public services to be accessible, more convenient and often simply of better quality than they experience today. They want those delivering services to listen more to those who use, or might in the future use, services and to make more effort to find out what they want.

2.2 Peoples expectations of access to services has been transformed in recent years. This is not only accessing services over the Internet or via a call centre, but in other ways such as getting money from a cash machine and being able to find out straight away about the availability of goods in shops and when new deliveries will arrive. These everyday experiences influence our expectations of public services. People want public services which reflect their lifestyles. They want services which are contactable at weekends and in the evening, that respond quickly to their query, are easy to get in touch with from home or work, use modern means to deliver effective services and keep them informed of the services they provide.

2.3 Councils are not just providers and enablers of essential services, they also have a key role as community leaders, fostering debate, articulating a vision and acting as advocates for their communities. The e.revolution can be of central importance to improving the way citizens relate to their council. A few councils are demonstrating that through modern means they can empower citizens to influence decision making in a way that transforms that relationship. Consequently the e.revolution is not just about the business of council services, it is crucially about councils working with all their local communities to enable them to make the most of the e.revolution, at home and at work.

2.4 The fundamental challenge for councils today is to deliver the high quality services that people want, at affordable cost. The experience of most councils which have improved access to services is that the number of queries received and demands for the service increases. Improving access to services must be a priority for all councils, but will not in itself deliver efficiency savings unless it is managed effectively. The challenge is to realise the benefits of cheaper forms of communication (phone and internet) for those services and people who want it. This will allow public services to concentrate increasingly scarce people resources on those who really need or want face to face contact. Customer service staff will be able to deal effectively with the vast majority of customer needs, freeing specialised staff to deal with the people and issues which genuinely require their expertise.

2.5 While councils are using the e.revolution principally to deliver better services, it does open up the possibility over time of delivering significant efficiency savings.

2.6 Councils can only meet public expectations of high quality services and of openness and accessibility by embracing the e.revolution.

2.7 Although Internet use is growing very rapidly, there is still a gulf between those people who are e.literate, and those who do not have access to technology and/or are daunted or discouraged by its use. Councils are therefore developing and managing multiple channels to meet these different customer requirements. However, unlike private sector organisations, public services are less able to close down channels. Many of the heaviest users of public services are least able to use the new forms of communication.

2.8 Councils also have an important role in ensuring everyone has the chance to learn about, and take full advantage of Information Communication Technology (ICT), whether at school or in adult life. Many councils are working with schools, colleges, Learning and Skills Councils and the community to offer these opportunities. Councils, however, have another role in nurturing strong local community networks, real and virtual, and empowering all citizens to play an active part in those networks.

2.9 A modern council which has embraced the e.revolution will be characterised by the following.

Delivering services to meet users needs:

Services being available outside standard working hours, and provided via the channels people want, telephone, Internet, personal contact, digital TV and mobile phone formats, where appropriate; and
Information about, and access to, public services co-ordinated around key life episodes for citizens through jointly provided services, accessed through Internet portals and multi-agency one-stop-shops.

Providing services in modern convenient ways:

Smart cards are used for public transport passes, to pay for school meals, to access leisure activities and to authenticate a wide range of transactions;
Websites are used to encourage public consultation and debate on council priorities and service improvement; and
Websites, call centres and digital TV are used to market public services to a wide audience.

Empowering citizens to get involved:

Elections on-line voting and voter registration are available, all councillors are online and using the Internet and email; and
Community networks are supported and enabled to play a full part in local governance.

Offering access to ICT for all:

Internet access and email is free to all citizens at their local library;
High capacity local networks are in place to support the continued growth of Internet use.

Supporting new ways of working:

Council staff are enabled to telework from home or away from their office base.

2.10 Such a council was described in the LGA commissioned report OK Computer? Scenarios for the future of ICT development in Local Government. Such a council will have reengineered its services at both the front line and back office.

Table 1: Modern Service Delivery

E.enabled service delivery

Many councils, have adopted the above model for delivering their ESD target. The front office functions, increasingly shared with other local partners, are intended to remain relatively stable to gain customer confidence. This gives more time to develop seamless back office functions. Initially requests for service received electronically might be dealt with through manual back office systems. Organisational buy-in to this model enables more rapid implementation of full ESD.

As important as the technical capacity is a clear customer focused approach based on an understanding of customers needs, and the business processes underpinning service delivery.

A key to delivering an integrated back office is the development of shared data sets and the middleware to manipulate them. In turn this technology is reliant upon effective working at local level, combined with a robust national framework covering authentication, data protection, and technical standards.

2.11 The rest of this paper describes the practical action needed to meet this challenge. Through its IEG statement each council will develop its own vision in accordance with its communities needs. The Government is working with local authorities and others to develop the route-map to turn this vision into a reality.

The route-map to the e.revolution

3.1 The e.revolution route-map covers:

Route 1. Leadership and commitment
Route 2. Action

- Developing access channels
- Achieving back office integration (tackling the legal, technological and policy barriers)
- Commissioning and procuring the most effective delivery vehicles

Route 3. Achieving a change in culture to one favouring innovation, learning and sharing expertise

3.2 Important elements of this route-map are already in place. The Governments modernising agenda places ESD firmly in the context of improved public services and more effective, open and accountable decision making. The technical and legal issues are being addressed through the work of the Cabinet Office (Performance and Innovation Unit, Office of the e-Envoy) and Best Value gives all councils the duty and incentive to use ESD to deliver continuous improvement in services. Best Value performance indicators and the Central Local Liaison Groups complementary targets for ESD provide the means for monitoring progress.

3.3 The Government has also provided practical help to councils and other public service agencies to develop ESD in an innovative way. Invest to Save, the Private Finance Initiative, and local Public Service Agreements have all enabled councils to explore, with partners and local communities, new forms of service delivery. Local Government Online (LGOL) Pathfinders will continue to support innovation and dissemination of good practice.

3.4 A range of organisations and professional bodies such as the Local Government Association, SOCITM, IDeA, the New Local Government Network, Promoting Electronic Government (PEG) and SOLACE have provided invaluable practical support to councils, developed national frameworks and projects and contributed to the debate about how we harness the e.revolution and map out the best way forward. The Central Local Information Age Forum is an important mechanism for sharing ideas and co-ordinating different work streams.

3.5 Over the next 12 months significant progress will be made as:

Councils produce and implement their IEG statements;
Learning from the 25 Pathfinder Partnerships is disseminated;
Strategic partnering and other new forms of service delivery gather momentum;
The national local government strategy based on evidence from IEG statements and pathfinders distributes the remaining £325m over the next two years; and
Central government e.business strategies become more informed by local content and vice versa.

Table 2: The route-map to the e.revolution

Route 1 Commitment and Leadership

3.6 Councils must adopt a corporate approach to the e.revolution. This will be based on what citizens want, and involve working across departments and in co-operation with local partners. Councils will maximise access to services through different channels, set explicit service standards and be clear on how they manage relationships between them. Working with other local partners, they will provide a seamless service for residents. Progress will be monitored through the Best Value Performance Indicator 157 (BVPI), and other internal targets within councils IEG statement, Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP) and community strategies.

3.7 ESD is an integral part of the councils approach to continuous improvement. To achieve Best Value, councils should take full advantage of the strategic partnering opportunities available with local and private sector partners. Councils will need to develop the procurement and contract management expertise required to manage these new relationships. Central and local government need to work together to develop and manage markets for these new products and services.

Route 2 Action

Access channels

3.8 Councils must understand the different channels by which people access their services (now and in the future), agree service standards with users, and develop a strategy for managing these channels and their integration with each other and with back office processes. The technology and organisational change needed will flow from this. The current principal channels are discussed below.

3.9 Telephones all councils should ensure that callers are dealt with responsively and effectively. Increasing numbers are developing call centres, frequently with local partners to deliver better, more responsive call handling. A number are already taking advantage of regional strategic partnerships, stimulated by the market, Best Value and pathfinders, to provide these facilities.

Effective call management should include:

Standards for answering calls;
Standards for dealing with calls transferred when lines are busy, and at what stage calls can be transferred for voice mail;
Standards for responding to voice mail messages;
Ability to deal with simple calls straightaway at the first point of contact;
Ability to identify and transfer more complex queries to the relevant person whether within the council or another local agency;
Ability to undertake basic transactions, for example making appointments, dealing with basic assessments over the telephone;
A workforce trained and enabled to deal with most calls on the spot

3.10 One-stop shops councils will have a clear policy toward its face to face contact. Councils will have used the asset management planning process to agree, with local partners, the balance between property and ICT investment, and the most effective means of ensuring a local public service presence throughout its locality (taking existing public service outlets such as libraries and schools, Post Offices and Town using Parish Councils where appropriate).

Effective one stop shop management should include:

Clear service standards of opening, accessibility, waiting times;
Location, hours of opening and services provided based on criteria or preferences;
Provision of a range of services, not just the lead departments or agencies;
Capacity to deliver a range of transactions, not just provide information;
Telephone or video conferencing links to more specialist services located elsewhere;
Private interview rooms for confidential meetings;
Flexibility to respond to peaks and troughs of workload;
Staff trained to deal with a wide range of queries effectively and sensitively.

3.11 Websites will be citizen focused (based on A-Zs of local services and/or frequently asked questions). They will be capable of handling all sorts of financial and other transactions. Websites will provide seamless local services through links to other websites and shared back office processes. They will also be linked to national and regional initiatives such as UKonline and NHS Direct. Through the use of Geographic Information Systems and shared databases, websites should become increasingly tailored to the needs of the individual.

Effective website management should include:

Guaranteed access 24x7;
Webpages created from the users perspective;
Secure transactional capacity;
Hotlinks to other related websites;
Email facility with clear response standards;
Commitment to keeping all webpages up to date;
Emailing alert service should people want it.

3.12 The Internet will be a major provider of learning and community information via The National Grid for Learning and The Peoples Library network. These services will be able to be accessed via specific specialist sites or through generic community portals at a variety of levels; parish or neighbourhood, district, county, regional or national.

3.13 Digital TV offers real opportunities to bridge the digital divide. It has the potential to be an almost universal technology. Online services will be available through this medium, as well as an enormous range of public information and learning opportunities. Projects funded through the Invest to Save Budget and Pathfinders are exploring the practical development of digital TV as a delivery channel and as an enabler of better governance and public services.

3.14 Smart cards will be widely available for a range of council services. A local Citizens Card might include applications around public transport and parking, libraries, leisure and access to learning. Young Citizens Cards will include a similar range of activities, but might also include school meal payments and rewards for attendance and extra curricular activities. A national framework for smart cards and pilots testing practical application is being supported by Government through Pathfinders and the Invest to Save Budget.

Enable integrated back- office processes by removing the technical, legal and policy barriers

3.15 Initially authorities will have developed front end processes, such as one stop shops, separately from integrated e.enabled back office functions. By 2005 there will be much greater integration between back office and front office processes within and between councils and other public service organisations. These changes will be driven by Best Value, including strategic partnering, the development of shared community strategies and joint service provision, for example, between health and social services.

3.16 These channels will be enabled and maintained through development of the technology and internal process improvements (via strategic partnering, Best Value and internal investment). Data sharing will be facilitated through central/local priority workstreams addressing the technical and organisational issues, for example, links with NHS Direct, and developing the local government secure investment (L-GSI).

3.17 The Office of the e-Envoy is co-ordinating action to remove unnecessary legislative barriers. The Electronic Communications Act 2000 provides a framework for the use of electronic signatures, and the Performance and Innovation Units report on privacy and data sharing is expected shortly. The local Public Service Agreement pilots identified several areas where Government action is needed to enable them to reach stretching e.government targets. This information, such as that submitted by councils as part of their IEG statements, will be used to develop the national strategy for delivering local government online later in the year. Local pathfinders are exploring these issues and possible solutions at the local level for national dissemination and rollout.

3.18 As well as exploring partnerships between councils and other local public services, more needs to be done to achieve vertical integration between councils and central government services. The Government will work with councils and partners to deliver this vertical integration. A good example of this approach is the work on an integrated planning portal involving DTLR, the Planning Inspectorate, the Royal Town Planning Institute and local authorities. IDeA national projects such as NLPG also play a key role in delivering local infrastructure which will help local service delivery while providing a national framework.

Planning on line

In a recent survey of what information the public most wants from their council, matters relating to planning came high up on the list. A number of local authorities have been exploring ways of both e.enabling development control and the development plan processes. For development control, the LB Wandsworth already has a system which allows anyone to view applications, objectors letters and decisions. They are continuing to develop this as one of the LGOL Pathfinders. Other councils provide access to all applications on a weekly basis and also show the decisions on each as they are made including Rutland CC [www.rutland-on-line.co.uk] and Tameside [www.tameside.gov.uk].

Other authorities are placing their development plan, their planning policies and Inspectors reports on line in order to allow anyone to browse at their own convenience. Authorities taking this approach are Lambeth [www.lambeth.gov.uk], Westminster [www.westminster.gov.uk] and Birmingham [www.birmingham.gov.uk] in addition to those authorities already listed above. Some councils have included an explanation of the development plan process on their site e.g. Newark and Sherwood whilst others include all reports for decision and the outcome s of committee and other meetings [www.teesdale.gov.uk].

In addition to these approaches within local authorities, the Planning Inspectorate is working with partners to develop an integrated approach to the whole development control process by linking agencies and in developing a common form which as a set of case notes can be used by all authorities in the country if they wish. It will also allow for local customisation. Further details can be found on http://www.planningportalprogramme.gov.uk/.

Commissioning and procuring the most effective delivery vehicles

3.19 To make the most of the e.revolution, many councils are using external partners for their specialist expertise or to provide new investment. All councils have considerable experience of tendering for external services. However, to date relatively few councils have sought to develop the partnership approach with other councils or the private sector, which the Government believes can really help meet the challenge of the e.revolution. A strategic partnering approach is different to traditional outsourcing contracts in that they cover a wider range of functions, are intended to be long term, have quality driven value added performance targets and have as an explicit objective the desire to draw on private sector expertise to assist the council re-engineer its services. Strategic partnering can complement the drawing together of different local public services to deliver the joined up services people want under the auspices of local strategic partnerships (LSPs).

3.20 Entering into these far reaching service delivery partnerships with the private, public or voluntary sector has emerged as one of the principal options open to councils in achieving a step change in performance. A number of the strategic partnering arrangements have been based around councils developing the capacity to deliver effective, e.enabled services.

3.21 The Government has recently launched a research and development programme to assist councils test these new arrangements and to explore which delivery structure offers most potential benefits to councils and customers. Options include:

Private Finance Initiative transactions;
Strategic partnering agreements;
Joint venture companies;
Community trusts; and
Franchise arrangements or a combination of these.

3.22 LGOL Pathfinders will also be developing their experience in relation to purchasing ESD. This will help inform the wider research programme into the most effective means of commissioning and procuring continuous improvement.

Route 3 building a culture of innovation, learning and sharing

3.23 The e.revolution is a fundamental challenge to all agencies and citizens. It is changing the way all of us work, how we view the world and our expectations of the services we depend on. For government the challenge is acute, people have ever higher expectations of services, have access to far more information national and international, and are more adept at using this information. Internally within public sector agencies information overload and poor knowledge management go hand in hand. Many public sector organisations are aware of the challenge of the e.revolution, yet are finding it very difficult to find the human and technical resources needed.

3.24 The human resource dimension cannot be overlooked. Nationally, there is a shortage of people who have a mix of the ICT and service delivery skills needed. In some areas, this shortage is particularly acute, with plentiful opportunities in more well paid jobs. Councils are using imaginative strategies for recruiting, developing and retaining staff. Similarly many councils are addressing many service managers relatively poor understanding of the potential offered by ICT to transform their services.

3.25 The best public services are rising to this challenge by becoming organisations that encourage learning and innovation at every level. They have clear values, understood by staff and users alike, yet are flexible in the way these are delivered. They are also open to new ideas and keen to share their own learning. Every government agency will need to become much more like the best if we are to rise to the challenge. Ironically the e.revolution offers powerful tools to help develop this new culture, while at the same time putting intense demands on public service agencies to change. Programmes such as Beacon Councils, Charter Mark, the Local Government Improvement Programme, Promoting Electronic Government, and LGOL Pathfinders are all promoting good practice and providing opportunities for learning.

What is to be done?

4.1 To achieve the vision of modern service delivery all councils should take into account the following.

Preparation of the following Implementing Electronic Government statement for submission to the department by 31 July. The statement should cover

The councils vision for 2005;
The councils current position;
The resources required to achieve the vision; and
Milestones between now and 2005.

The guidance on preparing IEG statements originally issued in March 2001 is included at Appendix 1. We would welcome authorities grouping together to produce joint IEG Statements where that is felt to be useful for the councils involved. Authorities may also want to consider using the Promoting Electronic Government Framework to structure their approach to ESD.

Table 3: Joining up modernisation

Consider how ESD contributes to, and interacts with, the rest of the modernisation agenda of Best Value, community leadership and effective political management.
Best Value and ESD is a key interaction. All Best Value reviews should consider the potential for ESD to contribute to the improvement of the services under review. Evidence suggests that too few councils are making explicit links between these two themes. Neither are councils exploring sufficiently the potential for joint reviews, whether of support services or direct services where the business transformation potential can be greater. If ESD is to be tackled in each review it needs to be written into the overall council framework.
Community leadership and ESD. Councils which deliver the effective, quality services people want will automatically have greater authority as community leaders. The e.revolution also offers enormous potential to enhance councils community leadership role. Many councils are well placed to be the site of the local Internet portal for their community, drawing together links from a range of providers; public, private and community. In addition to the provision of community information, councils are also developing new ways of enhancing local democracy using e.government, for example, by supporting parish councils and other community partners to go on line, using their website as part of their consultation strategy and using push technology to tailor information alerts to the interests of individual citizens. Many councils are encouraging online debate around key local issues. LGOL Pathfinders are experimenting with digital TV and smart cards as a means of engaging all sections of the community.

Many councils are seeking to harness the e.revolution to secure economic and community regeneration. For example, Camdens e.Government strategy embraces the whole community and repositioning the Borough for the 21st Century. Similarly, Cambridge and Ipswich market the A14 Corridor as a premier location for high tech business on the strength of its research base, existing clusters of similar companies, business support networks and its wired up communities.

Initiatives such as Opportunity Links, UKonline centres and Learndirect are focusing on empowering the socially excluded to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the e.revolution. The Local Internet Futures project has developed this wider approach to e.governance with 8 councils to date. The project shows the importance of understanding and nurturing local online community networks and integrating e.governance with community empowerment work.

Another important dimension will be to ensure local economic development strategies compliment e.procurement. Without support, local small and medium sized enterprises may become disadvantaged by councils shifting to move e.procurement. The procurement pathfinders are engageing with local businesses to develop their capability so that they are not left behind as councils move toward e.procurement.

Finally, many councils are trying to set examples in new ways of working. They are developing remote working (from home or away) as part of their human resource strategy and to reduce the environmental effects of unnecessary travelling.
Political leadership and ESD. Effective use of ESD can enhance new political management arrangements. The majority of councillors are now online, which improves the flow of information for those that use it. Other councils are experimenting with new technology to enhance the scrutiny function, for example by using Geographic Information Systems to track complaints or requests for service in a particular geographical patch.
Link with central Government Projects and e.business strategies councils should identify the scope for local integration to ensure local content is included in the work programmes set out in central government e.business strategies, and whether there are other priorities from a local government perspective Government should be considering.

All central government departments produced an initial e.business strategy in October 2000. These first strategies were assessed by the Office of the e-Envoy and departments have been asked to submit second iterations in July. The key questions to be addressed in strategies include:

What will the organisation look like when it is an e.business?
Which other public services are seen by customers as related to those of the organisation, and how are those services to be integrated?
What key areas are to be given priority for action over the next six to twelve months?

The e-Envoy expects effective strategies to demonstrate:

A co-ordinated, cross cutting and innovative programme that clearly supports the strategy vision;
Services are customer focused and not process led, driven by customer consultation and a customer segmentation strategy;
An outline of how services will be joined up through effective links with other organisations delivering related services to similar customers, including:

- Other central government departments;
- Local government and the devolved administrations; and
- Private and voluntary sector service providers

E.business strategies therefore must set out how central government e.business initiatives relate to local government, and the ways in which councils can engage in the process of delivering effective, service delivery and better public policy making.

Current departmental e.business strategies can be downloaded from the relevant departmental web sites, or via the Office of the e-Envoy site at www.e-envoy.gov.uk.

Participate in the pathfinder dissemination programme. (see chapter 5)

East Riding of Yorkshire Council

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council was created in 1996 following local Government reorganisation in Humberside. The council is the largest unitary authority by area in England and Wales, and a significant challenge was to ensure an effective, visible local presence in the small towns and rural areas it serves. The council also had a major challenge of needing to find savings in its first year of operation.

The council has established 11 Customer Service Centres covering the major communities in the East Riding. Contact centres deal with all enquiries to the council and last year over 400,000 enquiries were dealt with by contact centre staff.

The councils Customer Service Centre deals with over 1 million calls per year. Calls can be re-routed around the different contact centres to deal with peaks and troughs of workload. A recently purchased Customer Relations Management package ensures that all contacts, whether by phone, in-person or by correspondence are recorded and available for the next call.

The council is also developing a series of remote access points called Citizen link to allow video contact in the most rural areas with the council and other services providers, including the CAB and other community legal services.

Over 90% of enquiries are dealt with within the contact centre, with over 99% customer satisfaction. The council consider the customer service centres are an essential part of delivering services a large dispersed rural community, have been an important driver for customer focus within the organisation, and have helped ensure a large new authority has cemented local loyalties.

Financial support for all councils

4.2 The £25m available for 2001/02 is being used to support a coordinated programme of experiment, innovation and shared learning. A further £325m will be available for the next two years to help all councils achieve the 2005 target for 100%. For this target to be met across the country, there needs to be an appropriate balance between support for further innovation, and support for widespread roll out of successful solutions. In February we proposed, in e.Government, Delivering Local Government Online that these additional resources would allocate money to every council producing a satisfactory IEG statement while retaining a strategic reserve to support national infrastructure projects or large scale partnership proposals. The balance between national and partnership funding and support to individual authorities will be decided in the light of councils IEG statements, and the experience of pathfinders. The national e.local government strategy to be produced in the autumn will therefore be informed by, and support, the practical vision of councils and their communities.

4.3 The response to the consultation was supportive of the principle of allocating each authority a share of the remaining £325m, while retaining a strategic reserve to support national projects. Smaller authorities in particular welcomed the proposal. Larger councils suggested that the flat rate allocation should be differentiated to recognise the size of population and the number of services provided by unitary authorities.

4.4 Councils IEG statements should include consideration of, and reflect a commitment to partnership working with other local public services, and private sector partners. The number of authorities which are forming partnerships to produce joint IEGs is very encouraging, and the Government will reward these authorities by offering genuine partnerships additional resources.

4.5 Allocations will be announced in December 2001 in line with the national e.local government strategy, once DTLR has had an opportunity to consider the outcome of local authority IEG statements, and the first 6-month experience of pathfinders. It remains the Governments intention to allocate some resources to each authority producing an effective IEG statement. Those authorities submitting an unsatisfactory IEG statement in July will have the opportunity to resubmit in early November.

4.6 The Government will also consider whether there is a case for allocating all the resources as capital grants rather than credit approvals.

E.enabled housing services

Housing authorities have used e.government in a range of ways to improve services to customers:

For example; a number of councils use swipecards to replace girobooks, which provide more flexible methods of payments for tenants and to reduce transaction costs. Westminster Council swipecards can be used to pay rent at any of its one stop centres, at post offices and at special payment points throughout the country. Apart from being lighter and easier to carry by tenants, swipecards saved Westminster approximately £50,000 pa. They also reduce the potential for human error which can occur in a manual system.

Council tenants in Leicester, Knowlsey and Warrington can log repairs online. When logging the repair photos enable tenants to identify the problem and to book the most convenient time for an appointment. The online service offers another access channel for tenants, and allows integration with back office planning, ordering and financial management systems.

Several housing authorities, for example Nottingham, the London Boroughs of Camden and Newham and Nottingham are developing digital TV to provide information and housing services. This recognises that TV is ubiquitous in a way that personal computers with internet connections are not yet. Nottingham City Council is working with ntl to provide a digital communications service to 4000 homes by April 2002. This will provide email and internet access via the TV used for a range of services with an emphasis on education and e-learning.

The pathfinders

5.1 In February the Government invited expressions of interest from councils, and partnerships of councils to act as pathfinders. Pathfinder councils would have access to the £25m Spending Review monies for 2001/02, and fulfil three functions:

As a focus for learning to enable all councils to meet the 2005 ESD target hence the balance by region and type of councils;
To enable those councils at the leading edge to further develop products and disseminate their learning and good practice more widely; and
To develop products for national roll out, whether by local councils themselves or with private sector partners.

5.2 141 expressions of interest to be pathfinders were received, involving over 220 councils in all, plus police and health authorities and the private sector. The government announced 25 Pathfinder Projects in March involving over 100 councils. The selected pathfinders and how they contribute to developing the vision are set out in this chapter.

Dissemination programme

1. It is intended to disseminate the pathfinder learning and products through:

Conferences

2. The first series are taking place in July:

London (Host: LB Newham)	9 July (focus on customer relations management and e-procurement)
Taunton (Taunton Deane BC)	10 July (Digital TV, services in rural areas, back office re-engineering)
Manchester (Tameside MBC)	11 July (Call centres, web based services)
Newcastle (Newcastle CC)	12 July (Smart cards, UK-Online/Government Gateway)

The conferences will be an opportunity for all councils to share experiences with each other and learn from the pathfinders.

Mentoring

3. Each pathfinder will act as mentor to a further 3 councils. Mentors will provide detailed support and advice to councils to help them with delivering Local Government Online in the round or the specific aspects being explored by the pathfinder. This is not a source of free consultancy for authorities, but mentors can act as a critical friend, perhaps as part of Best Value review, to help councils through the process. Mentoring will be fully supported by the DTLR for at least 12 months.

Partnering/learning networks

4. In addition each pathfinder will convene an action learning network - either on a geographical basis or on a particular issue. Councils are encouraged to participate in a LGOL learning network.

5. A number of pathfinders will be developing products and services for wider roll out. Pathfinder learning will include evaluating which procurement route is the most effective in delivering Best Value and rapid take up within existing legislation. This will complement the recently announced strategic service delivery partnerships research and development programme.

LGOL Dissemination Manager

6. Vantagepoint has been appointed to assist the DTLR and Pathfinders arrange the dissemination programme. If you would like to have a pathfinder mentor please contact the LGOL dissemination manager at pathfinders:
Louise Russell
email: pathfinders@vantagemc.co.uk. Tel: 020 73045959.

Website

7. There is a LGOL pathfinder website with links to all the pathfinder websites www.LGOLPathfinder.gov.uk

Other sources of support

8. The Pathfinder dissemination programme is only one element of the support available to all councils to help them take advantage of the e.revolution. Other sources of advice, practical support and ideas include:

IDeA	www.IDEA.gov.uk
Promoting Electronic Government	www.peg.org.uk
SOCITM	www.socitm.gov.uk
SOLACE	www.solace.org.uk

Evaluation

9. Each pathfinder has agreed success criteria and key milestones to be reported on a 6 monthly basis.

10. The Government will publish an Interim Report in January 2002 and a final report at the end of the dissemination programme later in 2002.

Pathfinder Programmes

11. The next section gives a brief description of each of the 25 Pathfinder Projects.

General ESD

Wiltshire and Swindon

Community strategies to meet urban and rural needs

Developing Community Strategies and e-Government to meet citizens needs in a rural county and modern urban area:

The project builds on Wiltshire and Swindons role as leaders in:

- Joint community planning
- Partnerships
- Shared market research

There is a broad partnership of Local Authorities, the Public, Private, Voluntary, Community and Faith Sectors.
The project will help progress our shared vision for the area, with leadership from Council Leaders, MPs and Chief Executives.

The project will deliver community-based e-Government. Outcomes include:

- Improved access to information, services and governance.
- Combating the digital divide.
- Transforming business processes.
- Integrating the e-agendas locally.

Contacts:	John Feane, Corporate Advisor Policy & Strategy.
	johnfeane@wiltshire.gov.uk

	Charles Jack, Consulant.
	chjack@interalpha.co.uk

BASE.GOV Partnership

Beacon Accessible Service e-Government Project (base.gov)

The main aim of the project is to focus e.Government around the citizen by providing a toolset for managing and developing national and local e.Government services. Base.gov will deliver a suite of entry-level e-Government solutions by developing an affordable technology framework for councils. Our own solutions will utilise a range of technologies, which will be packaged together for a more holistic solution. This will provide stimulus to the local authority community in developing their e-Government approach. The solutions will be, where possible, in line with the emerging e-Standards. The consortium of Knowsley, Leeds, Lewisham and West Sussex represent the spectrum of local authority types: parish, district, county, metropolitan, large city metropolitan and a London borough.

Contact:	Barbara Spicer
	barbara.spicer.ce@knowsley.gov.uk

	John Yates
	john.yates.ce@knowsley.gov.uk

West Sussex Consortium

Integrating ESD access

The CNET+ programme is a citizen-centric solution that builds components to enhance access to council services. A West Sussex consortium that includes the County Council and all local Districts and Boroughs is delivering the CNET+ programme. It builds on the award winning partnership between County and Districts by creating e-Government Interoperability Framework compliant links between organisations to deliver a joined-up network of online and mediated contact channels. This is supported by a series of common components delivering electronic forms, an information repository, shared workflow, customer related management and contact management. The West Sussex consortium has links with the BASE.gov pathfinder consortium and will share work on establishing and validating architecture.

Contact:	Roland Mezulis, Chief Technology Strategist.
	rmezulis@westsussex.gov.uk

Access/inclusion

Welland Partnership

Development of community on-line portals

The Welland Partnership comprises of the future rural Local Authorities of: South Kesteven, Melton Harborough, Rutland and East Northamptonshire. The Welland project focuses on building community online portals around market towns. It represents an innovative approach to co-operative working and to addressing the problems of a rural sub-region.

It crosses traditional local authority boundaries and has wide ranging support from a range of organisations and agencies from the public, private, voluntary and community sectors. The project also aims to provide an online planning services facility for viewing, submitting and tracking planning applications and for accepting cash payments.

Access will be available via PCs and touch screen kiosks through one stop shops and the wide network of Post Offices via the Government General Practitioner project.

Contact:	Keith Aubrey, Assistant Chief Executive.
	kaubrey@melton.gov.uk

Surrey

Delivering emergency & major incident information to the Surrey community

This is a joint project involving Surrey County Council, the Borough and District councils in Surrey, Surrey Police, the Ambulance Service, Health Authority and the Army.

The project is to develop a sustainable central electronic hub for the collection and dissemination of emergency and major incident information from all responsible partners in Surrey. Information to assist the citizens and businesses of Surrey during an emergency will feature on an integrated web-enabled clickable map.

The project team will begin by determining the protocols for recording, collating and disseminating information securely between the organisations. The organisations will be assisted in reviewing their associated business processes and supported with the cultural changes and training required to support the new electronic hub.

The website design will involve input from users to ensure that their requirements are considered in the final site design and build. The extranet and internet site will be tested ready for launching in April 2002.

Contacts:	Nick Richmond-Smith, Project Manager.
	nickrs.@surreycc.gov.uk

	Tricia Guess
	tricia.guess@surreycc.gov.uk

Brent Council

Fully electronic citizen contact environment one stop E-Shop

The E-shop project is designed to assist the wider introduction of effective electronically-enabled customer services by:

Developing a customer relationship management system suited to the particular needs of local government and capable of rapid and low-cost implementation.
Re-developing Brents Community Information system and making it available to other local authorities.
Developing intelligent online forms for council services.
Developing a technical demonstrator of an IP based Contact Centre, and
Making available to all local authorities the lessons learned from the project together with the experience gained from Brents successful One Stop Shops and Contact Centre.

Contact:	Dane Wright, Service Development Manager, IT Unit.
	dane.wright@brent.gov.uk

Web access/UK-Online/Gateway

Tameside, Kirklees and Waltham Forest

Web-based services for Local Authority functions

Tameside MBC, Kirklees MC and London Borough of Waltham Forest are a unique combination of partners at different stages of e-government development, who by pooling their strengths will demonstrate step progression towards Electronic Service Delivery.

The project will deliver a proven, transportable and transactional local authority website that can be either implemented in its entirety or just selective modules. It will also be easily tailored and badged to meet local requirements.>

A mentoring implementation program will be developed which will be capable of being used in future years by other councils in a cascade approach.

Contacts:	Paul M. Dowthwaite, Strategic Director.
	paul.dowthwaite@nxcorp1.tameside.gov.uk

	Tim Rainey, Head IT Services.
	t.rainey@mail.tamesdie.gov.uk

Sunderland

Personalised Public Access Gateways

The City of Sunderland Pathfinder project is concerned with transforming the experience of the citizen in their interaction with local public services. The project will put in place an integrated public access service centre, which will deliver the choice to the citizen of anytime, anyplace. The service centre will support traditional phone and post in addition to a range of ESD options, providing more convenient access, greater transparency and a single window on public services through integration with multiple government agencies. This integration will be under the full control of the citizen using an innovative system of citizen data sharing consents.

Contact:	David Cowan, Director of ICT.
	David.Cowan@sunderland.gov.uk

Three Rivers

Interactive Internet Services

Three Rivers aim to provide 100% Electronic Service Delivery by December 2003. This will be achieved by web-enabling all of its services and integrating its web site with its corporate Customer Relationship Management system and all of its back-office systems. By using industry standard software and widely used back-office systems, the Three Rivers solution will be capable of being replicated across many other district councils. Each business process will be re-engineered to enable the whole service to be delivered electronically, in a logical and easy to use way that compliments BVPI 157.

Contact:	Phil King, Support Services Manager.
	phil.king@threerivers.gov.uk

Camden

Use of accessible and personalised Local Authority Web sites (APLAWS) to provide personalised access via the internet

The biggest challenge facing Local Authorities in delivering services on line is devising a system that is flexible, powerful and accessible enough to meet the needs of their citizens. The APLAWS project will define and implement an architecture for local authority websites that will enable citizens to create a personal portal to allow information from more than one authority to be displayed, in an accessible manner, on an individuals Homepage. The standards being devised, and the web system being developed to implement them, will be made freely available to the local authority family.

Contact:	Glyn Evans, Head of IT.
	glyn.evans@camden.gov.uk

Norfolk

Use of Government Gateway to develop secure information exchange and transactions.

Norfolk County Council and its partners in the Norfolk Connect Project are developing a network of single point access channels for citizens and business across the county to deliver joined up e-government.

In order to deliver effective three tier local government they will develop shared applications for a government secure community based on Local Government secure Intranet or its successor, and linked to UK Online and the Government Gateway.

As well as providing access to secure email and applications for general public access to district and county services it will develop access to regulatory services for business from a wide range of other local regulators via the EU funded SUPER project and develop linked services to Health Authorities and services for young people for the new ConneXions service.

Contact:	Tim Anderson, E-Government Manager.
	tim.anderson.csg@norfolk.gov.uk

Wolverhampton

Bereavement Centre

This project builds on the existing Bereavement Centre facility in two ways. It will provide increased public access to electronic information, and to the Centre staff via telephone or video conference from remote locations. It will also develop electronic back office processes to make the Bereavement Centre database available through an intranet to other council staff, and through secure extranet facilities to other partner agencies.

Contact:	Pete Thomson, Policy Officer.
	Pete.Thomson@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Digital TV

Suffolk/Ipswich/Babergh

Developing digital TV channels for service delivery and on-street interactive kiosks

The project will deliver services via digital TV and kiosks in a mixed urban and rural two-tier environment. There will be extensive trailing and consultation to discover where demand exists, or is likely to emerge, from citizens for each of the two channels. Together with integration with back-end systems, this will lead to a proven package which other authorities can confidently apply in their own context. A key objective is to set about breaking down the digital divide by offering electronic services to those who might not have easy access to traditional ICT equipment and skills.

Contacts:	Chris Rundell, Corporate Information Strategy Manager.
	stephen.baker@ipswich.gov.uk

	John Raine, Head of Policy and Personnel.
	john.raine@babergh-south-suffolk.gov.uk

Somerset

Geographically based multi-agency digital TV

SomersetOnLine Digital TV is a partnership between all local government authorities and the Police in Somerset, to deliver unified services to the people of Somerset, via the SomersetOnLine Portal web site and Digital TV. SomersetOnLine will use an intuitive geographical interface together with post code searches, to enable the public to access services quickly and easily, without needing to understand how local government is organised within Somerset.

A public/private partnership with UpMyStreet will significantly increase the social outreach and take-up of electronic services in Somerset. These phoneassisted digital TV services will, after public consultation and trial, be targeted to the information poor in both rural and town communities. This project aims to significantly increase the social outreach and take up of electronic services in Somerset.

Contacts:	Vic Freir, Project Sponsor, County ICT Officer.
	vsfreir@somerset.gov.uk

	John Stuart, Project Manager.
	jstuart@somerset.gov.uk

	Richard Greaves, Project Officer.
	rcgreaves@somerset.gov.uk

Smart cards

Southampton/ North East Smartcard Consortium

SmartCities the Southampton Smartcard Pathfinder

This pathfinder project, built on the success of its European funded multifunction Smartcard project, SmartCities, will extend the reach and range of Smartcard use for public services. It will incorporate a Public Key Infrastructure which permits secure authentication for transactions, making it easier and more secure for citizens to use services.

Pathfinder funding is enabling a public, private and voluntary sector consortium to provide real value to citizens making services easier to access, crossing organisational and service boundaries and permitting the card holder to tailor its use to fit their life-style. Access will be via kiosks, PC readers, and other devices.

Having achieved this we will share the results successes and shortcomings with all public services to take forward the national e-government agenda.

Contact:	Jocelyn Creese, Head of IS & IT Services.
	J.Creese@southampton.gov.uk

Cornwall

A country-wide initiative to improve accessibility through smartcard technology and remote access centres

Cornwalls hundreds of small, scattered communities suffer from social exclusion and isolation. This project will ensure that these key issues are tackled via a planned and co-ordinated countywide strategy that will become a model for others to follow.

As part of the implementation, Cornwalls district, county and island councils will develop and pilot a multi-function SmartCard for 50,000 residents and visitors. Initially coverage will include tourism, carparking, book borrowing, fare concessions, e-transaction authentication and age-limited counter sales.

Additionally, the project will take local government into 5 towns with no such presence, promoting e-government and testing its validity in a rural environment.

Contact:	Mr Philip Hughes.
	philip.hughes@kerrier.gov.uk

e.Procurement

Huntingdonshire

A fully replicable e-procurement model for local authorities

Through our e-procurement project, in partnership with Cedar Group PLC, we will:

· Implement a totally electronic procurement process within Huntingdonshire District Council, from requisition through invoicing to payment, reducing our transaction processing costs and unit costs;

· Provide a number of existing local suppliers with the means to offer their goods and services electronically; and

· Enable those suppliers to build their businesses by supporting development of web-based sales outlets to retain existing customers and attract new ones.

Contact:	David Oliver, Corporate Director, Commerce & Technology.
	David.Oliver@huntsdc.gov.uk

Leeds

Three year strategy for the development and implementation of E-procurement

This project is part of a three year strategy to develop and implement electronic procurement. ICT will be used to reduce the cost, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness, of all aspects of the procurement process for local government and its suppliers and contractors.

Working in partnership with others, the pathfinder will explore regulatory issues around electronic procurement as well as assessing the impact that electronic procurement will have on the local economy and on existing business processes.

Electronic tendering, sourcing, contract management, supplier management, online catalogues, ordering and payment processing will all feature in the project.

Contacts:	Wayne Baxter, Principal Procurement Officer.
	wayne.baxter@leeds.gov.uk

	Teddi Coutts, Information Manager
	teddi.coutts@Leeds.gov.uk

Newham

E-Payment and E-procurement and an interface into back office accounting systems.

Newham will develop an e-procurement capability that is, the ability to buy goods and services electronically, either on the Web or via an Intranet. This capability includes on-line catalogues, ordering and payments systems and interfaces into back office systems.

The project will bring together a group of London Boroughs working together each organisation is unique so the project will include reviews of each participating body. This will include the specialist Purchasing, Finance and IT staff, plus an assessment of back office systems.

Partnerships will be developed so as to include large corporate (London wide) Suppliers, but also local community and business involvement.

The projects goal is to develop a model for e-procurement that e-enables purchasing and supplying organisations.

Contact:	Martin Scarfe, Technical Finance Manager.
	martin.scarfe@newham.gov.uk

Land Use Planning

Wandsworth

Building on Success Mapping the Future

The Wandsworth Pathfinder project will improve access to planning and building control information and enable the submission of applications on-line.

This project will allow users to pinpoint the information they are interested in, with links to applications and the development plan. Citizens and businesses will also be able to define their areas of interest, determining when they are consulted on applications.

The project will provide a methodology and infrastructure to expand to other services. This will enable the Council to profile residents and businesses, and thus proactively target the information it can automatically provide.

Contact:	Tony Renshaw, Head of IT.
	arenshaw@wandsworth.gov.uk

Back office process/re-engineering

Bromley

A citizen centred multi-agency information base

Social Services, Health, Housing and Benefits are critical services, especially for the most disadvantaged in the community. This pathfinder will link front and back office processes across multiple agencies to enable higher performance and improve quality of customer service. The project will build on the e-government strategy already being delivered by the London Borough of Bromley (LINKS). It will focus on specific issues where direct customer service and efficiency benefits can be realised by March 2002, and where these can be sustained and built upon for the future. It will analyse the customer service/business processes that cross organisational and geographic boundaries of the partner organisations and will deliver specific models, components, systems and services to enable replication across London and beyond.

Contact:	Jim Haslem, Head of Information Systems.
	jim.haslem@bromley.gov.uk

Sedgemoor

Back office preparation

Sedgemoor will implement the fundamental back-office revolution necessary to underpin e-government aspirations for electronic service delivery and improved community engagement.

We will be able to extract information from existing systems and provide a consistent, user-friendly front-end from which officers, members, communities and citizens can gain access to all the services they need.

We will then provide seamless links from our Back-Office, into the service delivery systems of our partner organisations.

The public will find that our officers are better armed to deal with their needs, and our roll-out of ESD will be based upon a solid foundation.

Contact:	Paul Davidson, Head of IT.
	paul.davidson@sedgemoor.gov.uk

Kingston Upon Hull

Extension of database to incorporate inter-agency access to information

The Pathfinder project will build an integrated system to enable all agencies working with Children and Families to share a single database that will provide a single consistent view of the client. All interactions and business processes will be automated using workflow. This will ensure that everyone involved with a client will be working with the same current and accurate information.

The project will deliver information in a secure environment to both clients and service providers through multiple technology channels e.g. iTV, the Web, and portable devices. Electronic service requests will also be facilitated.

Contact:	Graham France, Client Support manager.
	Graham.France@hullcc.gov.uk

Shepway

Methodology and tools for single-point- of-notification address changes

The aim of the Shepway Pathfinder Project is to develop a set of standards, methodologies and software tools which will enable Local Authorities throughout the UK to accept name and address changes from citizens or external agencies and to automatically update all internal systems from a single notification. Provision will also be made for onward notification to other relevant organisations. The Project will include a full investigation of legal issues, a Names Database, a GIS system, import and export interfaces and a BS7666 Local Land and Property Gazetteer, with a strong emphasis on dissemination of information to other local authorities and agencies.

Contact:	Contact: Steve Dean, ICT Manager.
	Steve.Dean@shepwaydc.gov.uk

Salford

Business process re-engineering and customer relationship management.

Salfords transition to e-Government aims for lasting success through complete organisational transformation.

Making management and Business Process Re-Engineering central to our Change Programme enables us to identify significant improvement opportunities, develop effective solutions and secure organisational commitment for successful outcomes.

The Pathfinder offers:

· Management Tools or to develop Process, Organisational and ICT changes and to deliver highly responsive, accessible and integrated e-Services and organisational transformation;

· Dissemination providing Change Management Support through our Centre of Excellence with on-line learning tools and reflective action sets; and

· ICT Solutions including integrated CRM, Portal, electronic forms and a unique on-line agenda and decision making toolkit, which will be available through our shareware facilities where appropriate.

Contact:	Maura Brooks
	maura.brooks@salford.gov.uk

Post script

6.1 Councils are well placed to take advantage of the e.revolution. The large numbers of councils expressing an interest in becoming LGOL pathfinders demonstrates this, as does the evidence marshalled in the recent IDeA and SOCITM snapshot Local e.government Now. E.Government is recognised as a key corporate issue by most councils, and councils are taking steps to develop their approach, internally and with partners through preparation of Implementing Electronic Government statements. A few councils are already well advanced toward meeting the 100% target, but more importantly are genuinely beginning to see the benefits of e.enabled services, and to engage all their local communities in this e.revolution. It is not about simply putting existing services online. Many others have developed some aspect of e.government, whether an interactive website or call centre. Over the next four years all authorities will need to ensure these separate projects coalesce to offer a co-ordinated set of high quality customer access channels supported by effective back office processes.

6.2 That is not to underestimate the challenges facing all councils if they are to deliver real benefits to their communities. The government will continue to develop the legal and policy framework, and to ensure that national initiatives outlined in departmental e.business strategies are integrated with local content. The Government recognises its important role, with assistance from partners such as the LGA and IDeA, in supporting all councils, through national projects and through providing guidance and support. A national local government strategy to be published in the Autumn will set out in more detail the approach and national management arrangements.

6.3 All councils need to continue to take advantage of the opportunity offered by e.Government, and other parts of the modernisation agendas; community strategies, Best Value and new political management to improve the services and leadership their communities want and need. The Government will continue to support councils, but mostly it is for councils, individually and collectively, to rise to the challenge.

Appendix 1

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING IMPLEMENTING ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT STATEMENTS MARCH 20001

INTRODUCTION

In February we published 2 documents which outlined our plans for Local Government On Line and Local e-Government Targets and introduced a requirement for every council to produce Implementing Electronic Government (IEG) statements by July 2001. This guidance note is intended to assist councils in developing their IEG statements, emphasising that they are not just about electronic service delivery but building services around customer need to improve responsiveness and quality. This exercise is not about technology it is about change management, continuous improvement and business transformation for the whole organisation with technology supporting the objectives. Members and Chief Executives, in taking responsibility for developing their IEG statement, should recognise that:

its about transforming business processes
its about providing better seamless services
more efficiently
its about customer focus and integrated service
its about managing information as a resource
it requires top-level involvement

ESD should not be viewed as an additional way to deliver services but as an essential foundation for delivering integrated, responsive and high quality services whether over the counter, by telephone, Internet or Digital TV. For the consumer, the services must be easy to use, rather than organised for the providers convenience. The process is to ensure political leaders, senior mangers, policy makers, IT, procurement specialists and process managers work together to take collective responsibility to embed e-Government into the culture of their respective organisations.

E-Government sits alongside the wider modernisation agenda Community Leadership and Local Strategic Partnerships, Power of Well Being, Best Value, Social Inclusion, Governance, Beacons, and the New Ethical Framework. Each is significant but there are very strong inter-relationships between Best Value, governance and e-government the core drivers of a wider improvement process. As a result, councils will increasingly need to develop strategic approaches that link these agendas to best serve the interests of their local communities.

SUGGESTED CONTENT

The following chapter headings represent the types of information that should be included in your Implementing Electronic Government statement (references to further guidance on how co-ordination with national projects should be achieved are contained in the Publications list in Appendix 2):

1. Overview summary

Authoritys vision for modern service delivery in 2005, incorporating an assessment of customers needs
Identification of important crosscutting relationships with public and private sector bodies
Overview of the anticipated costs, benefits and savings likely to accrue from seeking to meet the 2005 target
A summary list of services with examples to be included in achieving the 100% target by 2005 (BVPI 157) and a snapshot of the current position
A summary list of services with examples to be joined up in achieving the 100% target by 2005 (BVPI 157) including those which need to be joined up between tiers of local government and between local government and the wider public sector
An assessment of those information management functions that might be done corporately, such as address management by implementing a Local Land and Property Gazetteer, in order that information is collected once and used many times
Summary Action Plan with milestones of how the authority will achieve the 2005 target, essential infrastructure and critical success factors
Detail of the relationship between the IEG and the wider modernising agenda (as outlined in Local targets for Electronic Service Delivery, February 2001)

2. Milestones

The section should set out a timeline and brief details of the key milestones up to 2005. These should include issues such as:

developing community strategies and partnerships around e-government including community participation, joint delivery programmes and shared databases and sharing of information with other local public services
access to service strategy incorporating the main channels such as one stop shops, contact centres, kiosks, interactive digital TV etc. in partnership with other authorities and public services, analysis of transaction types and joint payment systems
procedures for improved effectiveness in dealing with telephone customers through best practice in call handling and potential for partnership with other authorities and public services
timescale for services to become available electronically that are significant in terms of:

- volume of transactions, e.g. benefits and library services
- statutory change e.g. access to information for Sellers Packs^(2.iii) , or access to electoral registers by the Electoral Commission ^(2.iv)
- efficiency gain, e.g. procuring a significant proportion of goods and services online (in line with the guidelines in e-Government Local Targets for Electronic Service Delivery, CLLG, February 2001)

timescale for services being co-ordinated with national projects such as the National Land and Property Gazetteer^(2.ii) , the National Land Information Service^(2.iii) , the IDeA/Home Office Electoral Registers project^(2.iv)
proposals for integration with the UKonline citizen portal and National Grid for Learning^(2.i)
timescale for converging with e-GIF standards and local government specific standards disseminated by the IDeA
timescale for all councillors being on-line with a public email address
timescale for teleworking groups of staff, use of mobile technology and plans for rationalising assets and accommodation cross referenced to the Asset Management Plans guidance issued by the DTLR^(1.ix)

3. Transition

Developing transition plans will be crucial to the authoritys ability to manage the task of meeting the 2005 target for all services to be online. Details of the key elements of these transition plans should be included in the councils IEG and would be expected to cover areas such as the following:

MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCES:

Appointment of e-champions (member and officer) responsible for meeting the target and ensuring that performance against these targets is subject to effective scrutiny by both citizens and elected members,
Outline analysis of the anticipated costs, benefits and savings likely to accrue from e-government with a proposed funding and resourcing strategy,
Outline plans for realising savings from traditional service delivery processes and channels which might include:

- targets for the take-up of online services including social exclusion implications (marketing and access etc.),
- consider the scope for decommissioning of traditional channels, and
- assets, accommodation and human resource implications (in particular the opportunities in rationalising property assets^(1.ix))

· Summary list of local targets and priorities in response to the target framework (Annex A of e-Government: Local Targets for Electronic Service Delivery, CLLG February 2001), and

· ESD plans should be benchmarked against alternative means of service delivery and private sector models

BUSINESS OPTIONS AND TACTICS

Key customer needs and plans for measuring customer satisfaction and take-up which should include:

- a definition of the councils and partner organisations key customer groups,
- an analysis of the potential for groups of customers to access services electronically,
- future plans for joint working and delivery of services to specific customer groups, and
- an analysis of mobile technology to support home visits.

Opportunities to deliver early results.

PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIP:

Consider the potential for partnership with the private and voluntary sectors. This should include details of the authoritys plans to ensure that IT contracts do not have provisions which could restrict access to the market for the electronic delivery of government services by a range of providers.

RISK ASSESSMENT:

Critical areas of risk and uncertainty, assumptions and barriers to progress,
Initial risk register risk assessment (impact and probability) and management, and
Plan for uncertainty innovation in technology and in business models mean that you should:

- Regularly review the IEG, and
- build in regular check points and milestones, and be prepared to cope with project plan changes.

SKILLS NEEDS ANALYSIS:

Leadership members and senior management
Business system development
End-user skills,
Specialist user skills
e-Learning
Procurement
IT Support
Information management

Appendix 2

PUBLICATIONS - A RANGE OF PUBLICATIONS IS AVAILABLE TO ASSIST AUTHORITIES:

1) Publications of general interest

i) Modernising Government, Cabinet Office, March 1999.

ii) Modernising Government Action Plan, Cabinet Office, July 1999.

iii) Central Local Information Age Government Concordat, July 1999.

iv) e-government: a strategic framework for public services in the Information Age, Cabinet Office, April 2000.

v) e.gov, Electronic Government Services for the 21st Century, Cabinet Office Performance and Innovation Unit, September 2000.

vi) Implementing e-government: guidelines for local government, Cabinet Office, April 2000.

vii) e-Government: Delivering Local Government Online, Milestones and resources for the 2005 target, DETR, February 2001.

viii) e-Government: Local Targets for Electronic Service Delivery, CLLG, February 2001.

ix) Single Capital Pot: Asset Management Plans, DETR, February 2001.

x) e-Government Now. IDeA/SOCITM. April 2001.

xi) Promoting Electronic Government Prospectus. March 2001.

2) Publications relating to National Projects

i) Annex B of e-Government: Local Targets for Electronic Service Delivery, CLLG, February 2001.

ii) IEG Statement requirement for a Local Land and Property Gazetteer, IDeA, March 2001 (www.idea.gov.uk).

iii) IEG Statement requirement for connection to NLIS and support of the Sellers Pack, IDeA, March 2001.

iv) IEG Statement requirement for joining up Electoral Registers, IDeA, March 2001

v) OK Computer? Scenarios for the future of information and communications technology development in Local Government. LGA, 2000.

Appendix 3

PATHFINDER PROJECTS AND HOW THEY RELATE TO THE VISION

Issue	Pathfinder projects	Purpose
General ESD	Wiltshire/Swindon Base. Gov West Sussex	Developing a corporate approach to e. government which aligns it alongside other aspects of the modernisation agenda such as community planning, and demonstrates how partners, including other councils in two tier areas, are working together to provide seamless services.
Access/ inclusion	Welland Partnership Surrey Brent	Developing e. government with an emphasis on tackling the digital divide so all sections of the community are enabled to access councils in this way.
Web access/ UkOnline/ Gateway	Tameside Sunderland Three Rivers Camden Norfolk Wolverhampton	Developing different aspects of web based transactions, in a variety of different councils and social settings. Developing the local content/ relevance of UK- Online and the Government Gateway as a means of facilitating joined up service delivery between all levels of government.
Digital TV	Suffolk Somerset	Developing digital TV as a means of providing e/ access to a wider range of citizens, with particular emphasis on delivering services to more rural remote areas.
Smart cards	Southampton Consortiun Cornwall	Developing smart cards as a means of accessing and paying for a range of local authority and other local services
e. procurement	Huntingdonshire Leeds Newham	Developing effective procurement processing, including e. procurement, and working with local witnesses to enable them to develop their e. procurement capacity.
Land Use Planning	Wandsworth	Developing a webbased local planning service and contributing to a national planning portal pilot being developed by the Planning Inspectorate, Environment Agency and RTPI
Back office process/ re- engineering	Bromley Sedgemoor Kingston on Hull Shepway Salford	Developing e. enabled back office systems supporting effective, integrated joined up services.

Appendix 4

PATHFINDER PROJECTS AND HOW THEY RELATE TO THE VISION

Contact details
Julian Bowrey	julian.bowrey@odpm.gsi.gov.uk East of England and Yorkshire/Humberside regions	020 7944 4218
Janice Morphet	janice.morphet@odpm.gsi.gov.uk London and North East regions	020 7944 8114
Tony Teehan	tony.teehan@odpm.gsi.gov.uk	020 7944 4356
Guy Ware	guy.ware@odpm.gsi.gov.uk South West regions	020 7944 5818
Simon Norbury	simon.norbury@odpm.gsi.gov.uk South East and East Midlands regions	020 7944 5304
Chris Haynes	chris.haynes@odpm.gsi.gov.uk	020 7944 4437
	North West and West Midlands
General
LGOL@odpm.gsi.gov.uk Tel: 020 7944 3335 Fax: 020 7944 3799

Department for Transport, the Local Government and the Regions Eland House Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU