1. UK Central/Local Integration
24th September 2003
Nigel Pommills
Assistant Director – Local Government Office of the e-Envoy

2. Contents
Local government in the UK
The local e-government programme
Partnerships
National Projects
Problems and Conclusions

3. E-government – our common challenges
our client base - 60 million
our internal base - 20 large government departments, agencies and 400+ local authorities
750+ local government services
520+ central government services
5 billion transactions annually
80% with local government
Necessary to consider the scale of the challenges
READ SLIDE

4. What are local authorities?
Local Authorities = English County, District & Unitary Councils, London Boroughs, National Park Authorities, Corporation of London, Greater London Authority, Metropolitan District Councils.
There is no single body that can speak for all of local government
and that can tell Local Authorities that they have to do something.
This means that for any solution to have widespread acceptance by local gov it must be a solution that they feel is suitable for their needs

5. Local e-government programme
Programme run by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)
Seeks to improve delivery and value for money of local services by:
Assisting local government to achieve 100% capability in electronic delivery of priority services by 2005, in ways that customers will use

6. Has 49% services online and expects to get to 100% by 2005
The average council
Has 49% services online and expects to get to 100% by 2005
Has a Member and senior manager e.champion
Is part of a local e.gov partnership
Is concerned about capacity and resources
Wants Government to develop:
data protection
authentication/security
Common solutions to reduce costs, uncertainty and implementation time

7. Local and Central Government the common agenda
a national infrastructure to facilitate local joined- up services
a culture of shared development and learning (between local authorities, government and private sector)
efficient use of scarce resources (people and money - “build it once”)
The common agenda for central and local government is:
READ SLIDE

8. OeE and Local e-government
Common policies, frameworks and guidelines to underpin the implementation of e-government;
deliver key IT projects; and
campaign for change within government and the wider public sector.
delivery of the governments key targets
So what does OeE bring to this?
Well, we are working towards a set of common frameworks and standards to ensure interoperability
The actual delivery of some key elements of the jigsaw - such as the gateway
Proactively pressing for change within government in the broadest sense of the word
Work is already underway in some of the areas identified in the strategy such as…..

9. e-government framework policies
Assurance
Business services
Confidentiality
Channels
Digital TV
Electronic records management
Interoperability
Metadata
Network defences
Open source software
Registration and authentication
Security
Smartcards
Web guidelines
As I mentioned we are working on a wide range of frameworks and standards - and I can’t stress enough that we are looking at standards here not standardisation!
We hope this will ensure that as we all move forward we will still be able to talk to each other without difficulty
Most of these are available on GovTalk if you want to learn more - and I would encourage you to have a close look at these and let us know what you think of them

10. Components of the local e-gov programme
Implementing Electronic Government statements £160m
Partnerships £75m
National projects £75m
Support and capacity £8m
Support for innovation £14m
Pathfinders were about testing and innovating
IEG Statements -Final guidance published end June - closing date October. Contents - Statistical return, overall achievements, + take up
Partnerships about agrgating demand
National Projects about finding common soltions

11. Funding 2004/ /06
Yet to allocate c£300m
Key questions:
balance between support for national and local initiatives
balance of support for individual councils and councils working in partnership
What conditions attached to the money

12. e.partnerships
To provide joined up services to citizens across organisational and geographic boundaries
to offer services though a variety of channels
to build capacity
to promote reduction in procurement costs

13. What kinds of partnership have been supported?
County/district
Local Strategic Partnerships within one authority across the public and voluntary sectors
Sub regional partnerships for specific purposes eg health, smart cards
Regional partnerships

14. National Projects - delivering common solutions
To ensure all councils have access to key electronic services and building blocks, without having to build them from scratch
2 strands:
Priority services, e.g school admissions
e.government building blocks, e.g Digital TV
Potential for effective, efficient implementation of priority solutions

15. National Projects Process
Identified Need Strategy Process
Gap Analysis IEG Process
Initial Thoughts/Scoping Roundtable
Business Case National Projects Panel
Project Approval Steering Board
Programme Level Approval Programme Board
Ministerial Support Minister
Parliamentary Approval Committee
Panel ESG and Programme board all have joint central and local membership

16. How will National Projects help Local Government deliver
Projects will:
Produce starter kits and route maps for other councils
Agree model specifications/procurement documentation
Agree standards
Engage key suppliers to include national project outcomes in their products
Fill gaps in the market
Be affordable/replicable/applicable
Develop national solutions that can be applied locally

17. Local e-Government National Projects
Local Planning Services
National Benefits Project
Working with Business
Council Tax/ Business Rate Valuation
School Admissions
Workflow
CRM
e-Procurement
Digital TV
Fire Services
e-Trading Standards
Standards
Smartcards
Multi-Agency (FAME)
Local Authority Websites
Knowledge
Management
Crime Reduction/ Youth Offending

18. Local e-Government National Projects
e.democracy
Payments/revenue
Take-up/marketing
Government Gateway
Environment
Mobile working
Telemetry

19. Example – Web Services National Project
Approved (£2.5 million)
Key Products
Interactive Website
Community Engagement
Content Management System
Usability and Design
How does it help
Public Interface
Links to national infrastructure

20. Example – CRM National Project
Approved (£4.5 million)
Leading CRM Players
Key Products
CRM ‘entry level’ product
CRM Academy
How does it help
Specs, Guidance, Frameworks
Tackles ‘soft’ (but hard) issues
Not a technology projectand not particularly clever
But vital and workable

21. Example – local government standards body
Approved (£2.5 million)
research and maintain an information repository of e- Government schemes
compile a standards catalogue by mapping existing standards and identifying gaps to be filled
deliver practical support and high quality advice to Councils, their partners and suppliers on the interpretation and adoption of local e-government standards
Establish processes for agreeing and accrediting local e- government standards and projects that complement the national standards framework

22. Take up is the key measure of success
Most contact with councils is made by telephone
Currently only a small minority of people (<5%) do business via , but
>50% of people say they would use the internet to access council services.
Each national project has a dissemination and take-up strategy and targets
Drip feeding results, not waiting until April 2004
Priming councils to be intelligent buyers (especially partnerships)
Using the market

23. We only succeed if services are used
Take up can only be achieved through:
real understanding of customers and their needs
recognition that those needs differ
service design targeted on different groups
Services joined up
across government departments
between tiers of government
across boundaries
promoting access
But so much for strategies/frameworks /targets
There is no point in e-enabling services if no one uses them nor thinks they’re relevant.
Take up is the key
We will only achieve this if we prove we are relevant to people by:
- understanding their needs
- recognising the different needs within each community
- targeting those services to these groups and
- providing joined up services right across the piece
- promoting additional & existing access channels

24. Problems
Lack of understanding between the different tiers of government
Lack of trust between different tiers of government
Persuading local authorities to adopt generic solutions / national infrastructure
Persuading the centre to build solutions that are suitable for local authorities

25. Despite the problems
We have many projects which involve central and local government working successfully together
Local government is on track to meet the governments targets for e-government
Many new partnerships are being formed and we are learning to work with other parts of government and the voluntary sector

26. Conclusions
Local government on course to meet the target
National strategy sets a clear framework and programme of action for local government
Little evidence of real service transformation – we still have not mainstreamed e- government
Still think in terms of local government services or central government services rather than good public services

27. Contacts
Local e-government
CRM
Digital TV
Smartcards
Planning
Websites
Standards