Realising E-Government in the UK: Local and National Challenges

Since the benefits of Internet based business opportunities involving Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become evident and influenced not only commercial enterprises, but governments around the globe, investments into the provision of e-services have amplified. The United Kingdom is one such country that has passionately initiated a number of e-government programmes at both local government and national levels in order to e-enable all the major public services. However, initial indications of the UK e-government initiatives suggest that many local authorities are lagging behind the national expectations for e-governance due to various barriers such as lack of resources, skills and public awareness. This paper examines the impact of such barriers on realising e-governance through the results of an exploratory study in one of the largest local authorities in London, Hillingdon, in the UK. While the government’s perspective on e-governance is analysed in the paper through interview based research undertaken on the local authority’s employees, the citizens’ opinions are presented using the results of surveys undertaken on the local citizens. The conclusion of the paper discusses possible strategies for overcoming the various barriers that e-government faces.