Public sector needs diverse e-services, says report

A new report says a greater range of e-government channels needs to be set up to meet the diverse needs of the public.

The public has mixed and contradictory views about the use of IT in the provision of services, according to research published by the Work Foundation.

In the latest of a series of reports into public sector IT, the think tank finds that people have mixed feelings about e-government.

Generally, people want to access more services online yet the majority also say they always prefer to speak to someone face-to-face. A typical response to the Work Foundation's focus group sessions was that the internet is "good for transactional exchanges such as paying council tax but I wouldn't want to type a list of my symptoms into a computer - for that I might prefer to speak to people".

The survey, issued on 8 July, 2005, shows clear divides according to income and also between men and women in attitudes to e-services.

More women than men made up the total (32 per cent) of those preferring to access public services through one-stop shops and via the phone. Those opting to use internet services were typically male, aged 16 to 44 and were full time workers.

Overall, there is less enthusiasm for using online services than face-to-face contact, the report says. Just over half (52 per cent) say they would like to access more services online, while 30 per cent disagree. More than three-quarters (76 per cent) say they always prefer to speak to someone face-to-face. At the same time, 76 per cent would like to access services outside normal working hours and 63 per cent agree that it is easier to find information about public services on the internet.

The Work Foundation makes a range of recommendations based on the survey. It says that the main website - Directgov - should be made simpler.

"DirectGov must be more than a portal," it says. "It needs to be supported through a reduction in the number of public service websites. One solution would be to create a common website format that could be used across public services. This would lead to familiarity and offers the potential of branding public services."

It also calls for attention to be paid to segmenting different groups of public service users. For some users, the possibility of compulsion should be carefully considered, it says.

"Services where the customer base predominantly has access to the internet should phase in making online services their first port of call, learning from the experience of others, e.g. the Inland Revenue and UCAS, and should aim to publicise the benefits of using alternative services, e.g. accessibility of online services. However, compulsion remains a difficult solution for a broad range of public services."

A further recommendation is that all online services should have a help-line option for those "struggling to understand them". This would require involving non-technical staff in developing IT services, it says.

Alexandra Jones, Work Foundation senior researcher, said: "People who require the most public services are usually those with the least access to IT. Public servants need to design services around the different needs of different groups, making use of IT. This could mean text messages for young people and telephone services for older people. The next challenge is to encourage use of more cost-effective services whilst maintaining quality and inclusion."

The report What ICT? Providing more citizen focused services is the second in a series of three sponsored by Adobe. A final report is due to be published in the autumn.