UK urged to show the way in electronic government

The UK government must be more focused in the development of electronic government systems, according to European IT services group, CMG.

The comments come from the associate director of CMG's government division, Guy Dean, on the back of a recent survey which shows the public believes these developments will improve government.

"At the moment, the government is working on individual departmental projects rather than creating a general framework to take it forward," said Dean.

David Cope, director of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (Post), which advises the parliament on its role in electronic government, agreed with Dean. "There needs to be more central steering on this - the government isn't against it, but it certainly isn't championing it," he said.

However, Dean admitted that some developments are underway: "Electronic government is already here in many departments and the UK is, in fact, ahead of most of Europe in electronic governance". In second place is France, with the rest of Europe some way behind.

The survey identified a strong belief in electronic government. Of those questioned at the recent Electronic Government show, 66 per cent said ecommerce will radically reshape government over the next five years.