Government must put more forms online - watchdog
Kablenet.com
Published: 29 Jun 2004 12:25 BST
Departments must show more commitment to making official forms available online by setting out clear strategies and targets, according to a Public Accounts Committee report published on 29 June, 2004.
Filing in forms is one of the most frequent ways in which the public interacts with government. How easy forms are to access and use can have an important effect on how people view the efficiency of the public sector.
Making forms available electronically could minimise the burden of form-filing needed to access benefits, ranging from pension credit to attendance allowance.
Electronic forms could be "pre-populated" with data, says the report, reducing the need for people to enter the same details more than once and enabling departments to share information.
Edward Leigh, chair of the PAC, said: "Government departments and other bodies have an obligation to make sure that their forms are quick and easy for members of the public to fill in, and minimise the need for people to supply the same information more than once.
"Improvements would reduce the burden of bureaucracy on the citizen, and lead to greater administrative efficiency and savings for the taxpayer."
The report, Difficult Forms: How Government Departments Interact with Citizens, reveals that not all departments are confident of meeting the government-wide target for all their forms to be available online by the end of 2005, however.
The Inland Revenue introduced an internet tax filing service in April 2000 and is confident of meeting the government's 2005 deadline to make all forms available electronically.
But the report reveals that although the Department of Work and Pensions is trying to get as many forms online as possible, it is not confident of meeting the official deadline.
The Passport Service's £139m turnover comes almost entirely from people submitting single passport application forms. Although its form is available online, the service is not able to process an application without supporting paper documentation.
In addition to promoting e-forms, the committee is also urging departments to make the public aware of the benefits of online forms.
"Many of the problems with existing forms and guidance can be overcome through the online provision of forms. For example, citizens can be positively routed through questions, making it easier for them to complete forms correctly," says the report.
The PAC's recommendations follow the National Audit Office's report on difficult forms, which found that problems with existing or planned government IT systems resulted in departments having to ask people for information which they should already have.
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