UK government lacks integrated systems

NEWS A study as part of the Information Age government initiative has found the UK lagging behind the rest of the world on the delivery of government services over the internet. E-envoy Alex Allan admitted that while progress had been good, there is still a long way to go. Allan explained the services currently online are information-driven and do not involve government transactions. "High profile consumer services from government - such as paying your car tax - are going to be more difficult to transfer online," he said. The benchmarking report targeted four main areas and found the UK was good at developing measurable targets for e-services and has the correct initiative to drive change forward. However, the UK fell behind on the current availability of services and was judged lacking on the technical integration of its back offices systems. Allan yesterday launched the new figures at a conference organised by the Alliance for Electronic Business - a group consisting of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the CSSA, lobby group E-Centre and the Federation of Electronic Industry. According to a separate government progress report also released yesterday, the UK government currently delivers one third of its services online. The government has pledged to have all its services delivered online by 2005.