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UN | eGovernment survey | 2010 | benchmarking | report | egovernment development | readiness | index
The United Nations has released the initial results of a survey, revealing the UK has jumped several places up the table of eGovernment development.
The UK has jumped several places in the United Nations' 2010 e-Government Development Index, from the tenth place in 2008 (the last time the index was created) to the fourth in 2010. The latest table shows that the United Kingdom is ahead of all other European countries, and behind South Korea, the United States, and Canada, respectively.
The full results of the survey are due to be published very soon as part of the UN's upcoming report, '2010 United Nations e-Government Survey: Leveraging e-government at a time of financial and economic crisis' which assesses the ability of eGovernment during the ongoing global economic environment.
"The public trust that is gained through transparency can be further enhanced through the free sharing of government data based on open standards," states a UN overview of the report. "The ability of e-government to handle speed and complexity can also underpin regulatory reform."
It continues: "While technology is no substitute for good policy, it may give citizens the power to question the actions of regulators and bring systemic issues to the fore. Similarly, e-government can add agility to public service delivery to help governments respond to an expanded set of demands even as revenues fall short."
The preliminary overview of the report also points out that in the two years since the previous report, governments around the world had made "great strides in development of online services, especially in middle-income countries," though it acknowledged: "The costs associated with telecommunication infrastructure and human capital continue to impede e-government development."
Background information
The '2010 United Nations e-Government Survey: Leveraging e-government at a time of financial and economic crisis' was completed in December 2009. It will be published soon in the UN e-Government Development Knowledge Base.
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