Using government services online

Have you ever had the misfortune to try and speak to your council or a government department on the phone? Ever written a concise and beautifully crafted complaint, only to have it disappear forever in the bowels of who-knows-where?

If you have, then you’ll know that while dealing with any large organisation can be a trial, dealing with government can feel more like a life sentence.

For years now, the internet has been touted as an opportunity to bring government and its citizens closer together – a process called ‘e-government’. Early attempts proved fragmented and full of wasteful duplication.

Now, however, the Government is ready for action and since late spring has been encouraging people to try out the range of services available online, courtesy of a £5m ‘Take Up’ advertising campaign. After some false starts, the e-government revolution may finally be upon us.

Finding the right fit
So what exactly is e-government, and how is it going to help us? If there’s one person who ought to know, it’s the Prime Minister.

Here’s what Tony Blair has to say: “The future of public services has to use technology to give citizens choice, with personalised services designed around their needs, not the needs of the provider.”

The last part of that comment gives a big clue as to where things have gone wrong in the past: those in charge of delivering the technology have tried to make the people fit the services rather than the other way around. The result? Around 2,500 government websites, a budget of £14bn a year, and an excess of waste and duplication.

Now the Government intends to change all that by implementing a major review snappily entitled ‘Transformational Government Enabled By Technology’ which, among other things, will consolidate the way it delivers services and information into one site for citizens (or “customers” and “stakeholders” as it insists on calling us) and another for businesses.

The theory is that these two sites – called DirectGov and Business Link – will become the first stop whenever anyone needs to interact with national or local government.

So, instead of hunting around to find out about bus services or how to claim Jobseeker’s allowance, pay council tax, get help with giving up smoking, find out about consumer rights, report a hole in the road, or get planning permission for a loft extension, the idea is to go to a single destination – www.directgov.co.uk – and start the search from there.

Quite how much can be achieved entirely online varies depending on what you’re trying to do. Some things – for example, buying a fishing licence – are very straightforward; others are able to provide the necessary information, thus saving a journey to council offices; some frustrate by offering little more than contact details that don’t guarantee a response.

If that sounds less than promising, it’s considerably better than what was on offer in the past. And by exploring these services you’ll not only save time, but also get a glimpse of what e-government will look like when it’s finished. Just don’t expect miracles.