Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2000/05/09/this_is_the_reality/

This is the reality of e-government

Cabinet adviser and seasoned government minister shed light

By Kieren McCarthy

Posted in On-Prem, 9th May 2000 13:38 GMT

IMG src="https://www.theregister.com/images/adverts/blaircro.gif" ALIGN="left">Rarely has a week gone by in the last six months when a government minister hasn't held up some venture, software, partnership or proposal as yet another example of what New Labour is doing to thrust the UK into the digital world. For the most part, these are insignificant excursions into the Internet world, but none of them harm the central message: that the UK is to become the centre of the world e-conomy. You'll find very few people that disagree heartily with this intention but reality, as we all know, is an entirely different beast. Fairly early on in Tony Blair's e-vangelising (sorry, we'll try to keep the prefixes to a minimum), he hit the embarrassing brick wall of the government's own efforts. Put simply, Whitehall didn't have a clue about this Internet malarkey and their websites demonstrated as much. Recognising this as an enormous stumbling block, Tony appointed a dedicated e-minister, put pressure on departments to sort out their act and proudly announced that all government services will be online by 2005. As admirable as this deadline is, we don't believe the original plans for a complete e-government will ever be realised in this country. The hybrid that does result will also not arrive within at least two years of the 2005 date. How have we come to this conclusion? We'll tell you. The Register had a couple of candid chats with two men in the know. Dag Osterman is the head of tax for the Swedish government and his department is fronting a drive towards electronic democracy that the UK Parliament can only dream of at the moment. Stephen Chandler of Hewlett-Packard is working closely with the Swedish government on their plans and also advises the UK cabinet on how to achieve its own goals. So how come many of e-government's selling points will be lost on the way to producing a working model, and why won't it make its 2005 deadline? The interconnection of government departments, business and individual citizens will happen, but in arriving at a solution, much of the simple beauty and effectiveness of the original concept will be cut out. Of course there will be aspects of the grand scheme that will be finished in time and these will be held up as shining examples, but this is an enormous project which will take far longer to fully realise. Why?