Windfall reward for e-government pioneers

The government is set to reward local councils that make cutting edge use of technology with a cash bonus of £14m, it was announced yesterday.

The cash will be made available to local authorities over the next three years as part of the government's existing £675m Local e-government programme, which aims to get all local authority services online by 2005.

The first round of e-innovations funding will focus on rewarding pioneering work in e-learning, local authority ebusiness, using new technology to improve government services and using e-government to reach socially excluded people.

Although local councils have two years to make the online switch, almost 40 per cent have already done so. Phil Hope, local government minister, launched the initiative, saying the government was: "committed to improving public services" and that "local e-government is all about councils using their technology so they work better."