Lead Local Authorities London Borough of Brent and London Connects presented the solution to partners and ICT managers. Other key note speakers included Julian Bowrey, Divisional Manager for Local e-Government at ODPM; and Ian Watmore, Head of the e-Government Unit at the Cabinet Office.
Patrick Clark, Programme Manager of the Local Directgov Programme explains: “The Local Directgov Programme is building a robust technical solution which will simplify citizen access to all government services – both local and central. This unique technical solution will carry users from Directgov, straight to the specific Local Authority service page they require, via the Local Directgov application, in a single user journey which will appear seamless, based on specific links agreed with each of the 388 Local Authorities to increase accuracy.”
Mr Fitzpatrick commented: “I believe the Local Directgov Programme is making a significant contribution to Local e-Government. It will prove an invaluable aid to Local Authorities, helping them to meet efficiency targets, increasing traffic to Local Authority websites and encouraging citizen take-up of those online services. When fully developed, it has the potential to revolutionise how citizens interact with government, offering a more customer focused, joined up approach.
“Local and Central Government working in partnership has been an important factor in the success of Local e-Government. I recognise that much of the Local Directgov Programme’s success so far has been due to the co-operation and efforts of Local Authority staff in meeting the requirements of the Programme. It is important that we continue to work together to provide an effective service for all citizens.” Dane Wright, IT Strategy and Service Development Manager, London Borough of Brent, Lead Authority for the Local Directgov Programme said: “The Local Directgov Programme will benefit both councils and citizens alike. The Programme will help Local Authorities to make their services more easily accessible, transcending physical boundaries via the internet and making the access of information more convenient. Through the Local Directgov Programme, users will be able to easily find all the information and services they require, enabling them to engage with both their own and other Local Authorities in a far more sophisticated manner.”
The Programme will continue to engage with all English Local Authorities from now until March 2006 to collect a further, fuller set of data and inputting it into esd-toolkit, in order to continue creating links between Directgov and Local Authority websites.
The technical solution will enable users to identify the service that they are searching for in Directgov and will seamlessly refer them onto the Local Directgov application which will carry the user straight to the single most relevant web page on a Local Authority website, for the service they have requested.
Whilst some other portals currently provide a similar service on a county-wide basis, most of these rely on a search engine technique, which is less reliable or accurate. The Local Directgov Programme is the only website which can link users to all English Local Authorities.
Quelle: Publictechnology, 18.01.2006
