Online government nets a £220m boost for 2005

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has announced today that it plans to distribute £220m among local authorities to give them a leg-up in meeting the 2005 deadline for getting key government services online.

The payout doesn't stop there. Another £28m will be given to projects to do with the national rollout and take up of e-services.

A share of the £220m will be distributed to each individual local authority - £350,000 in March this year and a further £150,000 in May 2006 - as long as they "submit satisfactory progress reports". The local authorities will be required to keep the government up-to-date on their progress with e-enablement or risk losing their cash for the next year if they under-perform.

While the progress reports are currently intended as a loosely defined way to keep the government up to speed on authorities' progress rather than as a "rigid set of standards," a "generic framework" is to be introduced in the future to measure how local government is meeting its obligations on key priorities, an ODPM spokeswoman said.

For those at the bottom of the online government league table, the government has set aside a fund of £10m for each year up to the 2005 deadline.

Extra nonfinancial help will also be made available to all local authorities, including support on how to get the services online from the Implementation Support Unit, advice on how to manage the transition and help with capacity.

The government has also introduced a peer-support system, where local authorities can share best practice, and those that have done well in one particular area can help out others that may be struggling.

E-voting is also on the government's agenda, despite a recent damning report from the US on internet voting that saw plans for a large-scale test scrapped due to security fears. In addition to the £13m that the government has already earmarked for e-voting trials, a further £1m will go towards "support for... quality assurance," according to the government.