Management Toolkit

Local e-government needs a new approach

Kablenet.com

Published: 20 Jan 2005 16:30 GMT

Councils should adopt a new approach to e-government in order to push up performance and efficiency, improve e-service delivery and become "proactive" in linking with local communities through e-democracy, according to a report issued on 19 January, 2005.

The influential report by the New Local Government Network (NLGN) has a range of recommendations to help reformers in Whitehall and across councils keep "on track" with the process of modernisation.

It says that more work is needed to "join up" the three key strands of e-service delivery, e-governance and e-democracy.

Among the recommendations, it says local authorities should "look to areas where they can switch off non-electronic methods of dealing with the council" but should also put "guarantees" in place so that people without direct access to technology can continue to use services.

The report also says that:

In order to improve performance and efficiency, US style management systems should be "vigorously promoted" across local government.
Councillors should have personal websites which need to be freed from the political restrictions that currently exist on them.
All local authorities need to support the development of new technology to help "connect citizens to each other", and should recognise that IT can bring social groups together as community halls and libraries have done in the past.

There is much potential for progress on e-democracy, says the report. While councils have been wary, fearing that citizens may more easily form campaign groups which can upset the balance between claims of different competing local interests, a more "proactive" approach to e-democracy is needed, it says.

"Local government must respond to changes in how people use new online technology to play a far more proactive role in how it interacts with local communities, and how those communities engage with each other. This changing role requires councils accepting the changing nature of society, as well as how they can help others to find their own solutions through the identification of common interests."

The report, The Modernisers' Tale: why modernisation in local government must continue was launched at the NLGN's annual conference in central London.