Many of the public sector information technology sector’s worst fears about cuts were realised in last week’s ‘emergency Budget’ from the UK’s new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, one IT policy expert has told E-Government Bulletin.
Martin Ferguson, head of policy at the Society of IT Management (Socitm), said that some of the cuts announced in ... Read More
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Budget Realises ‘Worst Fears’ For Public Sector IT
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010Alun Michael Chairs Parliamentary IT Committee
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010The Right Honorable Alun Michael MP has been named as new Chairman of the Parliamentary IT Committee (PITCOM), a non-partisan group formed in 1981 to build links between Parliamentarians and the technology industry.
The appointment came as something of a surprise as PITCOM was reconstituted last week following the election of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government: ... Read More
Coalition Cuts Becta, Web Institute But Boosts Open Data
Monday, May 31st, 2010Becta, the UK government’s agency for information and communications technology in education, is to be closed as part of the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government’s plans to save an initial £6.2 billion through cuts in non-front-line public services.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced the closure, which he said will save £80 million, last ... Read More
Online Debate Experiment To Unite 10,000 Random Citizens
Monday, May 31st, 2010An innovative pilot project to involve 10,000 randomly-selected German citizens in political debate and policymaking, one of the largest programmes of its kind ever undertaken, was launched this month.
BürgerForum (Citizens’ Forum) 2011 is aimed at devising ideas to promote and strengthen social cohesion and equal opportunities in an increasingly diverse society. A total of ... Read More
Future of NHS IT Programme Thrown Into Doubt
Monday, May 17th, 2010The formation of the UK’s new coalition government has thrown into doubt the future of the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT), with both of the governing parties – the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats – having opposed aspects of the programme in their election campaigns.
Introduced by the former Labour government, the NPfIT ... Read More
New Draft Access Standard Embraces Website Customisation
Monday, May 17th, 2010Personalisation of website accessibility, including customising tools and offering different versions of sites to suit individual needs, should be considered for some specialist websites such as social networking platforms, according to the latest draft of a British standard on web accessibility.
The second draft of BS 8878 ‘Web accessibility – Code of practice’, developed by ... Read More
New Digital Elite Threatens E-Democracy Ideal, Academic Warns
Monday, May 17th, 2010Moves to open up the political decision-making process using online tools could simply lead to a new ‘e-politics divide’ whereby old forces of influence are entrenched in new ways, a Spanish academic has warned.
Ismael Peňa-López, lecturer at the School of Law and Political Science, Open University of Catalonia, told this month’s EDEM10 conference at ... Read More
E-Participation Struggles In Eastern Europe.
Monday, May 3rd, 2010A continuing lack of citizen involvement in government processes is hampering the development of e-participation in many central and Eastern European countries, according to the draft report of last month’s online debate hosted by the Pan European eParticipation Network (PEP-NET – http://www.internet-discourse.eu ).
Marko Rakar, Croatian-based director of the International Association of Political Consultants, said ... Read More
