Yorkshire attempts to bridge its digital divide
Kable
Published: 04 Jan 2005 12:35 GMT
North Yorkshire, by area the largest county in the UK, is taking its transactional e-services out to remote rural neighbourhoods as part of the latest phase of its e-government programme.
The county council is using a fleet of 12 mobile libraries to offer services to people who may find it difficult to visit contact centres and don't have Internet access. The first service available allows people to apply for trading standards licences online. Further services to be offered in 2005 include payments for people receiving disability benefits and council tax services.
The development of these transactional services follows the launch of a new e-services Web site at the end of December 2004. The site was developed to help the council meet the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's priority services targets, as well as the wider e-government agenda and the Freedom of Information Act, which has just come into force.
Along with the mobile libraries, the council is offering services through a network of contact centres. It also plans to develop its telephone contact services over the next year.
Gordon Gresty, director of business and community services at North Yorkshire, told Government Computing News that the aim is to allow people to use the new e-services irrespective of where they live in the county.
"North Yorkshire is a massive county and we really rely on our fleet of mobile libraries, especially in the remote areas. We hope people will find it a useful way to communicate and transact with the council," he said.
"Through this new and interactive Web site more and more services will be provided online. The new Web site is much easier to use and I'm sure that more people will avail themselves of it, not just from North Yorkshire, but all over the world. The county council is committed to the e-government agenda and will continue to develop access to its services electronically."
The council's Web site was developed with its IT suppliers Vignette and Agilisys between March and December 2004.
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