The UK government’s plan to have all government interaction with the population available electronically by 2008 may have a hurdle other than public opinion to vault – in the form of its own civil service. More than a quarter of senior civil servants from the First Division Association (FDA) have admitted that they knew nothing of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s pledge, according to a survey conducted by Internet Intelligence Bulletin in the FDA magazine ‘Public Service.’ The officials join 90% of the UK population, as profiled by a Gallup survey commissioned by Bull Information Systems last month, who were also oblivious to the administration’s internet intentions.
The civil servants’ ignorance of their government’s strategy creates a further barrier to swift adoption of the technology. To be frank, it [civil servant awareness] is low, says Jonathan Matthews, principal business consultant with Bull’s e-government group. I would have expected them to be far more aware of it.
Bull has a vested interest in e-government. Bull UK’s CEO Barry Grisdale says that half of the company’s revenue comes from government contracts and the firm is currently in talks with several local government authorities to install systems allowing them to interact with the population electronically. Although many of the officials surveyed anticipated that digital television would work as a catalyst, Matthews cautioned that take-up of the technology would be slow. He cited examples in Hong Kong and Singapore of interactive television and running educational programs over the internet, saying that both saw low adoption.
Until interactive TV is a reality, PC-based internet access will fill the gap, although Matthews described it as an interim solution, saying that a government trying to implement e-government exclusively in a PC medium was a bit potty.
