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Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document

Meeting of the Executive held on 04/04/2006
Implementing Electronic Government Return 2006 (EG6)


APPENDIX B

WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE – 4TH APRIL 2006
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Title:

IMPLEMENTING Electronic Government RETURN 2006 (IEG6)
[Wards Affected: All]
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Summary and purpose:

The purpose of this report is to seek approval of the submission of the Council’s “Implementing Electronic Government Return 2006” (IEG5) to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM).
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Environmental implications:

The national strategy for local e-Government seeks to exploit the potential of new technology to address a range of priorities for service delivery including the environment.

Social / community implications:

The national strategy for local e-Government seeks to exploit the potential of new technology to address a range of priorities for service delivery including the local economy, community safety and social inclusion.

E-Government implications:

The IEG6 Return to the ODPM is an essential part of the national monitoring process for assessing councils’ electronic service delivery capability against the Government’s targets for local e-government.

Resource and legal implications:

There are no resource or legal implications with respect to IEG6.

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Introduction and Background

1. Members will be aware that, over the past four financial years, the submission of an annual IEG return (IEG1 to IEG5) to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has resulted in Waverley receiving capital grant - £750,000 in total, for financial years 2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05, and a final IEG capital grant of £150,000 for 2005/06.

2. After IEG4, the ODPM reported that it would require local authorities to submit three more IEG returns – IEGs 4.5 and 5 (which the Council submitted in July and December 2005 respectively) and IEG6 (which the Council is required to return to the ODPM by Monday 10th April 2006). This will be the last IEG return that the Council will be required to submit to the ODPM.

3. As with IEGs 4.5 and 5, IEG6 has no implications with respect to receipt of any IEG capital grant. However, it will be used to provide evidence to the Audit Commission of how the IEG grant has been used by the Council.
4. Because the final version of IEG6 was not published until the beginning of March, the information required for its completion is still being compiled. The completed IEG6 return will be circulated in advance of the meeting and a hard copy will be placed in the Members’ Room for those wishing to see a colour version of the Priority Outcomes section.

Implementing Electronic Government Return 2006 (IEG6)

5. The IEG6 self-assessment return is identical in format to the previous three IEG returns. The primary purpose of the ODPM in requesting the completion of IEG6 is to assess whether local authorities have met the deadline it set for the achievement of its “second wave” of e-government targets – 31st March 2006.

6. This report will, therefore, pick up on those aspects of IEG6 relating to the 31st March targets as these are the only areas in which IEG6 differs significantly from IEG5. It will, however, also mention any December targets which are still outstanding (and which were previously reported to Executive when the IEG5 return was submitted to the Executive for approval in December 2005.)

Priority Outcomes (self-assessment)

7. This section of the IEG6 return lists the 29 “Required Priority Outcomes” that the ODPM expects local authorities to have implemented by the end of 2005 and the 25 “Good Priority Outcomes” expected to be delivered by the end of March 2006. Councils are requested to indicate their progress using a “traffic light” system: Red – preparation and planning stage; Amber – rolling out of approved projects; and Green – fully implemented. With the exception of the outcomes listed below, Waverley will be at the “implementation” or “completed” stage of all of the “Good Priority Outcomes” for which it is responsible (i.e. not including those services that are provided by Surrey County Council) by March 2006:

§ Establishment of a single business account (i.e. a cross-departmental ‘account’ run by the local authority whereby businesses are allocated a unique identifier that can be stored and managed via a corporate CRM account facility supporting face-to-face, website and contact centre transactions). (G8); and
§ Registration for Council Tax and Business Rates e-billing for Direct Debit payers. (G11).

8. As reported to the Executive meeting in December, Waverley did not complete the following “Required Priority outcomes” by 31st December 2005, and they remain outstanding:

§ “E-enable one-stop shop resolution of Housing & Council Tax Benefit enquiries via telephone, contact centres, or via one stop shops using workflow tools and CRM software to provide information at all appropriate locations and enable electronic working from front to back office.” (R16); and
§ “Systems in place to ensure effective and consistent customer relationship management (CRM) across access channels and to provide a ‘first time fix’ for citizen and business enquiries, i.e. using a common database, which holds customer’s records, to deliver services across different channels, and enabling joined-up and automated service delivery” (R27)

9. Waverley’s position with respect to CRM has been reported to, and endorsed by, the Executive when considering previous IEG returns.

BVPI 157

10. BVPI 157 is the performance indicator for electronic service delivery and is measured as a percentage of a Council’s interactions with its citizens that can be undertaken electronically (e.g. on its web site, via e-mail, using credit/debit cards etc.). The ODPM set a target of 100% which Waverley achieved by the deadline of 31st December 2005.

Recommendation

The Executive is recommended to approve Waverley’s IEG6 Return for submission to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister by 10th April 2006.

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Background Papers (DoF)

There are no background papers (as defined by Section 100D(5) of the Local Government Act 1972) relating to this report.

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CONTACT OFFICER:

Name: Lawrence Heath Telephone: 01483 523084
E-mail: lheath@waverley.gov.uk

comms/exec/2005-06/319