E-Government

E-Government

·       Governments always had a responsibility to communicate with the general public (keep them informed).

·       Development of e government parallels the development of the internet. More interactive. We can communicate with them as well as them communicating with us. We can interact in a transactional way as well. Complete interaction between ourselves and the government.

·       Leads to a few issues- digital divide, only available to people with computers. People without out access to computers are at a disadvantage. Not everyone can use a computer as well as they should be able to.

·       UK250.co.uk – collection of government websites, proves how e-government is growing.

·       Government Gateway

·       Gov.uk – enables you to see what government is all about, can report people.

·       Find out about your area – crime rates, council tax, house prices, schools performance.

·       Directgov

·       DVLA- car tax, quick and easy. Record of MOT and Insurance. Legal Documents. Why do people still go to the post office to tax their car instead of doing it on the internet?- facilities have to close as they are not being used anymore.

·       Pension-  directly into bank account, don’t have to go to post office or accountant.

·       Student loans and admissions- apply for university online

·       Driving theory test online

·       Apply for passports

·       Job seekers allowance

·       Yougov.co.uk – more interactive – can start an online petition, government have to have a debate about it in parliament.

 E-Government, also known as Electronic Government, has developed a lot recently, meaning that it is now a lot easier to communicate with the government, whether it is your local council or higher up. You can use the websites to report people to the police, as well as find out valuable information about your area, including crime rates, council tax, house prices and schools performance. DVLA also counts as E-Government as you can tax your car online and access online records of your MOT and Insurance. Many people also use government websites for sorting out their pensions, student loans and admissions on UCAS, apply for passports and job seekers allowance and even take your driving theory test online.

                  The ability to be able to do this from your own home on the internet means that a lot more people are able to access these services. It also makes it a lot easier and quicker to do things that would otherwise take up a lot of time and effort. Another big advantage of online government services is that some disabled people might not be able to physically go to the post office for example and sort out things like pensions and job seekers allowance etc., so the fact that these services are now available online means that they can easily use the services like any other person.

                  However, with the growing popularity of using government services online, comes the decline in the need for things like Post Offices, therefore putting people out of work as they are no longer needed. There are also huge security issues as some people are not comfortable with entering their personal details online, as it can sometimes leave you vulnerable to scams and identity theft.

                  Personally, the only time I have used online government services is when I applied for university. I did it through the UCAS website, on which you have to enter a number of personal details such as your name and full address, your current and past schools, your exam results (GCSE and A-Levels) and other things such as where you work and what universities you are hoping to attend. I found that they had very good security precautions such as Security questions, which is where you answer certain questions such as the name of your first pet, or the road you grew up on, when first creating your account, so the only way someone can access your account is if they know the answer to these questions, and it is not likely that a complete stranger would know these details about you, therefore I was comfortable to use the website, knowing that no one would be able to access my account without my consent.