While larger IT savvy cities such as London and Manchester have used the funding they have received well and are on target, the study reveals that 36% of local authorities believed they would not meet implementation of electronic government (IEG) requirements by 2005. Datamonitor said that the main problem is with small rural areas that tend to lack both the necessary in-house IT expertise and the funds necessary to fully meet e-government requirements.
In addition, the government often penalises those behind in e-enabling their services by having cutting their funding, which is likely compound the problem even more. Each council has been promised a £200,000 funding to assist them in becoming e-enabled.
However, Datamonitor believes that the problem is not just with funding, but also with guidance, particularly for smaller rural areas that may not know how best to use the funding. According to the survey, 73% of councils cited guidance as important, while 92% site funding as important.
Quelle: netimperative
