Only one in 10 regard the 'Connect to Your Council' take-up campaign currently underway to encourage people to access local government services online as "money well spent", according to research by Public Sector Forums, the independent network of eGovernment professionals.
Over two thirds said Whitehall should fund councils to promote their online services – currently not the case.
Widespread concern among practitioners about the nature of the marketing drive itself was also uncovered - only 40% of those questioned think the adverts will encourage more citizens to use council e-services.
And just as disturbingly the research found:
One in three of those polled had not seen the campaign's main adverts anywhere.
Two thirds had not come across any online, radio or advertorial marketing.
One in seven wasn't even aware a national take-up campaign was underway until it was brought to their attention via the survey itself.
The new Department for Communities and Local Government, the Ministry responsible for the campaign, also comes in for particular criticism over its handling of the project, with practitioners expressing serious misgivings about promoting services which many councils do not actually provide online.
Recent research commissioned by the take-up campaign's management, released after a Freedom of Information Act request by Public Sector Forums, found only 53% of councils have an online facility for residents to report graffiti or fly-tipping.
Others raise concerns about the campaign's 'low key to invisible' marketing style, as well as the quality of the adverts themselves – described by one respondent as "utterly depressing".
Of those who had seen the campaign's press and billboard adverts, half rated them as distinctively average, while just over a quarter (28%) viewed them favourably.
Only a quarter (26%) said their local authority would be running its own local campaign on the back on the national publicity.
Five percent of respondents did however report they had already seen a rise in use of their councils' online services due to the Take-Up Campaign, some two weeks after its launch.
However several webmasters surveyed for the report complained of very low referrals to their websites.
One said: "For the first 24 days in May, we had 138 referrals from direct.gov.uk, or about 5-6 referrals per day.
"This compares with nearly 10,000 referrals from google in the same period of time, or about 400 per day.
"So to all intents and purposes, the campaign may as well not have happened."
Asked what specific support was required to help increase take-up, councils most commonly stated the need for more resources, not just to fund local marketing and advertising activity, but also to improve services and access to them.
Others called for proven good practice models, auditable results, "less waffle about unsubstantiated achievements", along with the need for greater buy-in from departments and senior management to develop e-channels.
The crucial task of driving customer take-up of online services is sometimes left to council IT departments and website editors, the survey also found.
Commenting on the findings, Ian Dunmore, Director of Public Sector Forums, said: "We were genuinely surprised by these findings, having anticipated most respondents would warmly welcome the campaign.
"The fact that so many council officers, who not only fit the very demographic the campaign purports to be targeting but are also supposed to be responsible for actually delivering the services being promoted, hadn't seen the adverts is an appalling state of affairs.
"Those behind this debacle should be called to account immediately. It is yet another example of the shoddy workmanship and money-wasting that has characterised Whitehall's approach to eGovernment."
Autor/Author: Jon Land
Quelle/Source: 24dash, 12.06.2006
