By Tim Ferguson, 4 March 2008 16:03
NEWS
Web services are becoming an increasingly important way for citizens to interact with local government and councils are responding with improved websites.
The number of visitors to council websites sites increased by more than 10 per cent in the past 12 months according to the 2008 Better Connected report from local government IT body the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm).
Broadband from A to Z
Click on the links below to find out more...
A is for ADSL
B is for BT
C is for Cable & Wireless
D is for Dial-up
E is for Education
F is for Fibre
G is for Goonhilly
H is for HSDPA
I is for In-flight
J is for Janet
K is for Kingston
L is for Landlines
M is for Murdoch
N is for Next generation
O is for Ofcom
P is for Power lines
Q is for Quad-play
R is for Remote working
S is for Satellite phones
T is for Trains
U is for Unbundling
V is for VoIP
W is for WiMax
X is for Xbox
Y is for YouTube
Z is for Zombies
The number of local government websites offering transactional services - such as online council tax payment - has increased by 36 per cent.
Other improvements noted by Socitm include better information and news, greater use of plain English and improved search services.
Four councils achieved an 'excellent' rating for their websites compared to just one last year - although numerous websites were close behind.
The four sites rated as excellent are those belonging to East Sussex County Council, Gloucestershire County Council, Salford City Council and Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.
But the survey also found some council online services still suffer from poor usability, while others are insecure or request inappropriate data.
Martin Greenwood, programme manager for Socitm Insight and author of the report, said with widespread internet access there should be a focus on encouraging greater levels of take-up of online services and improving customer access.
Janet Callender, CEO of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council said websites are increasingly underpinning frontline services and improve efficiency.
Comments
There are 2 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard
Less "buck passing" would be nice:
eg. The Planning dept. of my local council sends letters to neighbours affected by planning applications;
These contain the wrong web URL for viewing the plans;
The letters displayed at sites are also wrong;
Even the physical address for viewing paper plans is wrong.
Browsing to the URL given in those official letters results in a "page not found" error.
So, I contacted the council planning officer: "Not my problem; that's up to the IT dept."
I contacted the IT dept.: "Yes, but that's done by our external web provider."
These letters are still wrong, deterring ordinary people from taking an interest in their local surroundings.
Wouldn't it be better if individual council officials were to take personal responsibility for ensuring that such simple things were put right?
At present, too many public officials respond that they're "not IT specialists; not familiar with the web" or that letters and web-pages are the responsibility of some other department.
2. Karen Challinor
basically local government is for anything that stops them having to deal with the people they serve face to face
after all it is possible that a council worker could be moved to action by the plight of a customer (when did I become a customer ?) asking for help
whereas you cannot argue your case with a web page
further it allows them to make more efficient use of council tax revenue as there will be fewer staff required to deal with queries from customers
so less opportunity to state your case and more people on the dole