UK mid-table in EC e-government study

According to the survey, which used a list of 20 basic public services and judged the provision of each in each state by sophistication, the UK occupied the middle ground, behind the Scandinavian countries, Portugal and Spain who came out strongest, and ahead of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, who compared poorly.

In terms of how many particular public services were fully available online, Norway, Portugal, Denmark, Finland and Spain had six, France and Sweden had five, and Germany, Ireland and the UK were judged to have four. Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg had one each.

Sophistication of existing services was judged by the researchers in terms of stages of development, from one-way interaction to full electronic case handling, and the degree to which the services are provided online.

As far as individual services are concerned, governments were much better at setting up services that generated revenues, such as income tax, VAT and social contributions, but scored less well on administrative tasks, such as the supply of driving licenses, passports and building permissions, which were found to be the least developed.

The survey also purely judged the supply of services, rather than the level of use by the public. UK e-envoy Andrew Pinder recently called into question whether e-government services would be used widely with criticism of the Inland Revenue's website, claiming that “only a fraction of taxpayers use it.”

Market research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres also recently released a survey concluding that the proportion of Britons using online government services is much lower than in other major western countries. The survey suggest that only around 11% of the adult population in the UK have used the web to find or provide information or transact with the government, compared to France, Germany and Spain, where the level is about 17%.

The EU aims to have all basic services, including car registration, higher education enrolment and VAT declaration, available electronically by 2003.

It also released a ministerial declaration today, stating that: “Higher priority should be given to eGovernment issues in promoting the development of a European Information Society focused on growth, employment and quality of life.”

Commissioner Erkki Liikanen added: "eGovernment is not about new technologies, it is about how governments can make life easier for citizens and companies by serving them better. Because a government does not choose its clients, it must be ensured that all citizens have access to the improved services. No one must be excluded.