IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Five Irish public sector projects are up for gongs in the 2005 eEurope Awards for eGovernment to be held in Manchester next month, a tonic for a beleaguered sector that has been heavily under attack from the media in recent weeks.

The strong Irish contingent is made up of Meath County Council for its work in taking communities online, the Local Government Computer Services Board for Mobhaile, the Department of An Taoiseach for its eCabinet initiative and the Revenue Commissioners for its ongoing innovation around the Revenue On-Line Service portal.

New staff to build on transformation success

The London Borough of Lambeth is looking to recruit IT staff to work on its business transformation programme and help improve operational efficiency.

The council is seeking a business transformation manager, project managers, application and server support and data communication officers, and programme and systems administrative officers, to work on projects intended to deliver cost savings.

For Gwendolyn Sykes, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s chief financial officer, e-government is personal—as personal as a paycheck.

Sykes says she “really, really likes the [e-government] initiatives because they make my tax dollar go further.” And as a single woman with no children, Sykes sees a lot of her dollars go toward taxes every month.

Automated payments to reduce errors and generate £2m in efficiency gains

The government has launched an initiative to reach local authority efficiency targets through improving payments and transactional services of local councils.

The scheme, which is being implemented by Voca, aims to generate at least £2m in efficiency gains and plans to increase the uptake of automated payments within councils and reduce errors by 25%.

Belgium's Electronic Identity (eID) initiative is helping to improve government efficiency, reduce paperwork and make interactions with Belgian citizens quicker and more secure. Currently, more than 1 million Belgians have eID cards and additional cards are being issued at a rate of 150,000 cards per month. The Belgian government estimates that by the end of 2009, 8,2 million citizens age 12 years and older will have eID cards, based on Java Card technology, allowing them to access enhanced government and enterprise services.