E-government focus switches to cost savings and efficiency

Local authority e-government projects will be subject to much greater value for money, cost-effectiveness and efficiency assessments from 2005, according to the government's second annual report on the progress of councils in putting services online by the end of 2005.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) report, Two Years On – realising the benefits from our investment in e-government, says "tremendous progress" has been made to date.

The average council is now 79 per cent "e-enabled" compared to 59 per cent a year ago and 98 per cent of councils report they will achieve the target of putting all their services online by the end of this year.

The National Projects programme, which supports 22 projects to create standard products, systems and best practice that can be adopted by councils across the country, has been declared a success with projected cost savings of £320m.

Other achievements highlighted include the ability of citizens in over 100 councils to go online to submit planning applications, check their council tax balance and calculate their benefits.

But further cost-savings from local e-government will be an increased priority beyond 2005, party in response to the Gershon efficiency review, according the report.

It says the framework for the Comprehensive Performance Assessment from 2005 will have a much greater focus on local authorities' delivery of value for money and their approach to cost-effectiveness and efficiency.

Local e-government minister Phil Hope said in a statement: "If local e-government is to make a genuine and sustainable contribution to the improvement of public services, then the next 12 months must see us driving through the benefits of our investment to make a real difference to the lives of ordinary people."