Local authorities face categorical failure

A mere 22 per cent of local authorities fully comply with e-government targets that come into force on 31 December, according to a new research report from APR Smartlogik.

The survey suggests it is unlikely that all local authorities will meet the targets set by the Implementing Electronic Government (IEG) strategy. IEG aims to deliver key local government services online, including schools admission, vote registration and planning applications.

The survey looked at whether local authorities had categorised their online content to either the new government standard – the Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary – or the previous standards, the Government Category List (GCL) and the Local Government Category List (LGCL).

Nearly 40 per cent of the 185 local authorities surveyed had made no attempt to categorise their content to any of the standards. Some were
using a form of categorisation, but only 22 per cent of these conformed to the e-government standards.

This means users will find it hard to retrieve the information they’re searching for on local authority websites or using internet search engines.

It is also impossible to deliver joined-up services across agencies and public bodies. Jeremy Bentley, CEO of APR Smartlogik, said: “This study
shows local authorities have little chance of fully meeting their e-government targets.”

The survey also found that the same data categorisation was being used for a variety of content. Technically, this means that authorities are
complying with e-government targets,but it is no help to users trying to find information. “Evidently there is need for more robust central scrutiny.”

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