IT funding blow to e-government plans
The UK's plans for e-government have suffered a blow after a CIPFA survey revealed attempts by the public service are being hampered by out-of-date IT systems and lack of funding.
Research from the public finance institute held in Brighton in June, found the e-programme will suffer unless additional and central funding is introduced. Attendees at the annual conference of CIPFA, found almost half – some 46% – of respondents said a lack of IT funding was their ‘biggest future challenge’.
Meanwhile 88% of respondents to the survey – conducted by IT company interBiz – said current IT systems needed to be updated, while four out of five respondents said IT would cut the costs of running government.
Recent studies put the cost of getting local government services online by 2005 at £900m extra per year, or £2.7bn over three years.
The Cabinet Office was unavailable for comment at time of going to press.
Government off course for e-targets