Will councils hit e-government deadlines?

Councils are racing against the clock. They have only two weeks left before the deadline by which they must have their services "e-enabled" - 15 December. The big question is will they hit the target?

Setting the deadline is the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). It is pushing e-government in an attempt to make life easier for the public.

The ODPM wouldn't be drawn on what happens to councils that miss the targets. But a spokesman for the department said: "The deadline isn't until the 15th, so we won't be publishing the findings until the New Year."

According to the ODPM, the average council was 77 per cent "e-enabled" by the end of March this year. It expects that figure to be at 100 per cent this month.

Government research from August said that by October 93 per cent of all priority services for local e-government will be at 'amber' or 'green' for implementation.

It said e-government is currently contributing around 15 per cent (£115m) of total efficiency gains of £750m between 2004 and 2005.

That £115m is a direct result of investment in local e-government which the ODPM claims will rise to £277m by 2006, £307m by 2007 and £362m by 2008.

At intervals throughout the year, each council is required to submit an Implementation of Electronic Government (IEG) progress report. Once submitted, the ODPM can then release the next chunk of money to the council so it may invest more in e-government.

The drive towards e-government is linked to a spending review on the public sector published last year by ex-CEO of the Office of Government Commerce, Sir Peter Gershon. In the report, Gershon said local governments must save £6.45bn through improved efficiency by 2008. Councils have also been told services must not suffer as a result of these cutbacks and that a maximum of 50 per cent of the savings can be achieved by squeezing existing resources.

Andy Vernon, a managing consultant for IT services firm PA, said: "With the Gershon agenda, designing for an efficient and sustainable service has also taken centre stage - this is not so much about the technology choice but about embedding efficiency in the technology and business design process from the outset."

But senior research analyst Mike Davis of the Butler Group said he believes the ODPM is using the deadlines as a moveable goalpost rather than a fixed one.

Davis said: "The deadlines are more an aspiration than a necessity. If one listens to the ODPM they say 'if we didn't have the targets no one would be doing anything'. If you don't have something to aim for you won't have anything to hit.

"Local councils claim they have a £2bn shortfall. That's got to come back from somewhere. E-government is designed to release more resources. Peter Gershon said we can save X or Y but that is dependent on streamlining operations. And you need systems to do that."

But now the technology is (mostly) in place, the challenge will be to get the public to use it. Earlier this year, more than two-thirds of silicon.com readers said they had seen no change in the way their local council communicates with them, despite the deadlines.

According to a silicon.com reader poll, 71 per cent of the 141 respondents said they had noticed no new interaction from their local authority. Only 21 per cent said they had seen changes in the council's online approach to the public while the remaining seven per cent said they were unsure.