E- Government

E-government

 

E-Government, also known as electronic government, refers to government’s use of information technology to exchange information and services with citizens, businesses, and many arms of government. The implementation of the E-Government has improved internal efficiency drastically, the delivery of public services or processes of democratic governance and a by far improved accessibility of public services.
 

E-government tends to be thought of as "online government", However, there are non-Internet electronic government technologies that can be used in this context such as home telephones, fax, PDA, SMS text messaging, MMS, Bluetooth, CCTV, tracking systems, road traffic management, identity cards, smart cards and other NFC applications, TV and radio-based delivery of government services, email and online community facilities. Polling station technology is also being used, additionally, non-online e-voting is being considered now also.

 

The main website accessed by people in the UK to report situations, look up information or to aware yourself of any possible problems is: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm

Direct Government is an online website, which allows citizens to find out information about the government and what is occurring in their local area at the time. This is known as e-presence, which is present on the internet and allows any person in the country to access the website whenever they like, and can research any information. This e-government website has all the public services in one easily available place. The most popular searches made by citizens are for jobs, car tax, driving theory tests student fiancé, and what the job seekers allowance is.

 

The direct government website has helped citizens find out various types of information about their government. Their home page has numerous links on a variety of different topics which are available to search, these come of use as they may be what citizens are looking to find out about which makes the search even simpler. This website gets updated every day, to allow new information to come through, the website has to have such regular updates considering the information is changing constantly, such as the jobs available to you, these could be taken already and people need to be aware of this as soon as possible, otherwise the website is holding false information.

 

The website is for people of all ages, this allows students find out heaps of information about careers they might be interested in, any finance issues, and even about university’s or colleges if they are looking into further education. Almost any information can be found and accessed which could relate to you depending on your age, interests and questions. If your older and need to find out about pensions or planning your retirement, this website provides that information. Additionally if you’re a parent and need to find out detailed information about local primary schools, money or tax benefits, this is available to you also. This website also holds health and safety information to ensure your safety in any situation.

 

The government used to hand out leaflets many years ago, these leaflets contained all the information about recently updated and new topics within the government.  Now e-government has been introduced these leaflets have been declined completely, this is because of the advanced technology today, all information that the public may want to know can be posted on various websites all across the internet. Today we also reasonably frequently get television information adverts come up on screen to aware us of any new interesting stories to research on a given  website to access more information. These stories can include things such as; changes in policy, changes in law or even to convince people to research their legal rights.

 

E-government, defined as the use by government of information technology internally and to interact with citizens, businesses and other governments, this has been developing in Britain for over a decade, in fact, since the first computers entered large transaction processing departments such as the Post Offices, in the 1950s.

 

E- Petitions

E-petitions are a simple, personal way for you to influence and state your opinion to the government and Parliament in the UK. You can create an e-petition at any time and about anything that the government is responsible for which causes you to have a very strong opinion on the matter. Then if your petition receives at least 100,000 signatures, it will be highly considered for debate in the House of Commons.

Before a petition is made you should always proof read over a previous petition that has been made by someone else to give you an idea of the arguments people propose. Once you have done this, if you still feel confident you are open to the opportunity of creating your own petition. Then when you have created you petition it will be sent off and checked by the government department. Your petition will only be open for up to one year, if by this time it receives 100 000 signatures or more, the next move will be, being send off to the house of commons to debate.

 

Renewing car tax online

If you are an owner of your own vehicle, it is required for you to pay car tax to the DVLA for your vehicle and display a tax disc in the front window of your car. To be able to do this online you’ll need to be the registered keeper of the vehicle. You can renew your tax any day from the 5th day and onwards within that same month the tax is about to expire.
You can pay car tax online if you are the registered keeper of the vehicle and your personal details such as your name, address and vehicle details are up to date with DVLA. In order to pay tax your insurance has to be valid at the time when tax needs renewing. Your vehicle must have recently passed its MOT, Goods Vehicle or Passenger Service Vehicle test; this is needed to ensure the vehicle is still safe and legal to be on the road. These must all be valid when the tax disc starts. When Paying online, if you use a credit card there’s a £2.50 service charge, whereas, if you use a debit card there will be no charge.

It is also possible for car tax to be paid for a dealt with through the service of post offices, but you will need proof of who you are once again as well as proof that you are the owner of the vehicle you are paying tax for, all of you legal documents are the best items of proof when paying for tax. You’ll also need the surname, date of birth and National Insurance number of the exemption certificate holder along with the certificate serial number.

 

Submitting Tax Online

 

The main objective of E-Filing is to facilitate the electronic submission of tax returns and payments by taxpayers and tax practitioners. Taxpayers are given the opportunity to use the internet now to receive, complete, submit and pay tax returns through trustworthy and secure payment gateways on a 24-hour daily basis.

Taxpayers, accounting firms and tax practitioners who wish to file their own tax forms, or who file tax forms on behalf of their clients, are able to register with the system via the Internet. No specific software is required, just a simple web connection and the standard Windows operating system.

This process does sound reasonably complicated yes but in practice it is actually both simple and fast. There is no set time for this service, as it is placed on the internet it is therefore available to you at any chosen time by you and with no extra cost, the entire service is free. The idea of submitting tax online is coved by Legal framework; this is the Income Tax Act, 1962. If you ever get confused or stuck with what to do next there is a well supervised Call Centre and Support Desk to guide you through the process.

 

Local area- demographic

Demographics refer to the main characteristics of the population of humans in a given area that behold the most importance. This usually refers to the features of the population such as gender ratio, death rate, birth rate or growth rate. Demographics are essential to the government as it requires for them to know how to budget and distribute its resources among the people.

 

But when referring to the government, demographics means what information is new today that has an impact on our life’s or how we live our lives. These can include the prices of houses. This is important to us because if house prices are rising rapidly and our wages either remain the same or are decreasing due to recession they we instantly become limited to what houses we can afford, this has negative impacts on families, people need to be aware of this because it could change where they have to live and the size house they will have to live in, or whether or not they can afford to continue living the same house. Demographics could also be referring to crime rates, these are important as people need to be aware of the crime rate in their local area to ensure their own safety and the safety of others around them such as young children. It is also a necessity today to know who has been elected as you new local MP, considering they will be the person to make the changes and decide what is good for local citizens, it is important you agree with what decisions are made.

 

 

Metropolitan Police Service

 

The Metropolitan Police serve a big part in the government system online and have their own website; this website allows citizens to access important information which could of use to them. The website enables you to learn about historic and famous crimes, crime mapping, online crime, your local police service, crime prevention and feedback from others. On the website is gives you safety precautions to do around your house, your schools, your working environment or when you’re out around the town.  The website provides information about crime which you can talk about and read for yourself. These crime cases on the website provide information in great depth to ensure you know the full details, these crimes could have been shown on the news on television, or you may hear of an incident in your local area from a neighbour and want to know the full story and details to ensure you own safety.

 

National Health Service

The National Health Service (NHS) is an important part of the government as well; they also provide their own website for the public to browse. The NHS is here to ensure the health and safety of the general public no matter what the problem is.  The website various different sectors all to do with your health these include; symptoms, services, help lines and health checkers. This type of information is helpful as people are able to write about their own symptoms and find out what is wrong with them. You could say it is like visiting the doctors online, but the only disadvantage is you are not able to receive any medication which has been chosen, such as medicine. The website also allows you to find your local doctor, dentist, pharmacy and hospital; this is possible to do at anytime of the day as the NHS website is available 24 hours a day, every day.

 

 

Greg Clark- Tunbridge Wells Local MP

Greg was born in Middlesbrough in 1967. He went on to study Economics at Cambridge University and was awarded his PhD at the London School of Economics.

Before entering politics, Greg worked for the Boston Consulting Group which is one of the world's top business strategy firms and works for clients in various countries around the world including the UK. Greg was Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Trade & Industry from 1996 until the General Election in 1997 and was then appointed the BBC's Controller, Commercial Policy.

Before becoming an MP, Greg was Director of Policy for the Conservative Party from March 2001 for three of the Leaders called, William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard. This was before being elected to Parliament for Tunbridge Wells in 2005. Greg was responsible for two landmark policy papers in Energy and Climate Change policy: "The Low Carbon Economy" and "Rebuilding Security", which set out how a Conservative Government will make Britain a leading player in the low carbon economy. Greg was Shadow Minister for Teesside from 2006-2010.

In May 2010, Greg was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government and in July 2011 he was appointed Minister for Cities. In September 2012, Greg was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

He has been elected for the following:

• MP for Tunbridge Wells, May 2005 onwards.
• Member of Public Accounts Committee, 2005-2006
• Shadow Minister for Charities, Social Enterprise and Volunteering, 2006-2008
• Shadow Minister for Teesside, 2006-2010
• Shadow Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, 2008-2010
• Minister of State, Communities and Local Government, 2010-2012
• Minister for Cities, 2011-
• Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 2012-

 

It is now possible today to follow your local MP on twitter and receives updates on a daily basis on what matters are occurring within the government. They also tweet useful information regularly.

 

 

Reporting problems to your local council online

The government provide a series of different websites of which you have to option to research and complain about problems in your local area. There is advice given as to what you should to resolve these problems, such as consulting the person who is causing them, or even just reporting any problem that needs sorting drastically to the police. There is descriptive information given about numerous different problems that may occur in any area, such as; abandoned vehicles, air pollution, dog nuisance, flooding, litter, mobile phone masts, noise, pest control, raves, streets and pavements, traffic management and parking, waste disposal. Also if there are any physical problems which are causing major inconvenience in your neighbourhood such as potholes, paving slabs or current roads works then you need to consult your local council to sort it out as soon as possible as these can be very dangerous.

 

Health Protection Agency

The Health Protection Agency is an independent UK organisation that was set up by the government in 2003 to protect the general public from threats to their health, usually caused from infectious diseases and environmental hazards.  It does this by providing advice and information to the general public, this information is provided by health professionals such as doctors and nurses. From April 2013 the HPA will become part of Public Health England.

 The Agency identifies and responds to health hazards and emergencies caused by infectious disease, hazardous chemicals, poisons or radiation.  It gives advice to the public on how to stay healthy and avoid health hazards, provides data and information to government to help inform its decision making, and advises people working in healthcare.  It also makes sure the nation is ready for future threats to health that could happen naturally, accidentally or deliberately.

 

Advantages of E-Government

There are advantages while implementing an electronic government. The main advantage of an electronic government this will be to improve the efficiency of the current system. That would in return save money and time, but would also facilitate better communications between governments and businesses.

In addition, moving away from a heavily paper based system to an electronic system would reduces the need for man power, meaning the process could be handled by less employees and therefore to reduce labour costs.

The society is moving toward the mobile connections. The ability of an e-government service is mainly to be accessible to citizens despite their location throughout the country brings the next benefit of an e-government service which could be potentially the most important.

Disadvantages of E-Government

The main disadvantage of an electronic government is to move the government services into an electronic based system. This system loses the person to person interaction which is valued by a lot of people.

With much technology based services lies technical difficulties, such as the typical ‘the server has gone down’, this problems with the service provided because of the technology.

The ability of being able to use the computer correctly and know what you are fully doing today is rare for the older generation, users who do not know how to read and write would need assistance, and an example would be the senior citizens.

Even though the level of confidence in the security offered by government websites are high, the public are still troubled over security, fear of spam from providing email addresses, and government retention of transaction or interaction history.

Security issues on E-government

Passwords

Although passwords are commonly used in relatively low risk environments such as social networking sites, they are inconvenient for the high value transactions and communications that travel across the Internet. Passwords are easy to break and guess, and users often write down or share passwords with other people who are not always trustworthy, but most of the time people forget them. In addition, different applications require new IDs and passwords. Passwords alone cannot provide required security services, most of the time a user ID is needed along with them. Therefore they do not ensure privacy as they cannot guarantee the safety of stored or transmitted data; and they cannot legally prove that a party participated in a transaction as anyone could get hold of a password.

Personal Identification Numbers (PIN’s)

Any user must provide an personal identification number (PIN) which is known as an access token, security is stronger than with a password alone. However, a PIN alone cannot provide important security services such as privacy, data integrity, and non-repudiation; this is because they are so obvious to guess as they usually just consist of your name and date of birth.

Digital Certificates

Digital certificates are the preferred technology over passwords and PINs for securing electronic transactions of any type. Digital certificates serve as a unique, unforgettable online security, authorizing the identity of each device or device user and identifying privileges and attributes for authorized access to private online information.