E-Government Framework

(All Wards/ all Areas) Item 4

Executive portfolio: Finance
Authorised for submission by: Alexis Rouch, Executive Director 378/03-04
Corporate Services
The Executive 5th January 2004

Executive Summary

The report sets out the framework for the implementation of e-government, looks at the
building blocks and where we are to date and the action plan and timetable for going
forward.

Recommendations

(1) That the E-Government Framework as detailed in Appendix A be adopted.

(2) That the Action Plan and Timetable in Section 5 and Annexe 1 of Appendix A be
approved subject to the funding being approved as part of the budget setting
process.

(3) That it be noted that monthly progress reports will be received by the Corporate
Team ICT Sub-Group.

Funding

Funding of the current year programme is through the 2003/04 capital budget of £2.85m
and the revenue budget for the E-Government & ICT Strategy team of £2.9m. There will
continue to be a need for capital funding to implement the programme and this is shown
in Section 7 of Appendix A and summarised below.

Capital Funding

2004/05 2005/06 2006/07

£m £m £m
6.1 4.0 3.0

The funding is targeted at improving customer services, upgrading and maintaining the
ICT infrastructure to support the growing operational needs of the Council and to
achieve efficiencies through improved business processes, automation of manual tasks
and economies of scale. Savings in excess of £20m will be achieved through this
investment over the next five years.
Consultation
Name Department/Organisation Date Sent/ Date Cleared/ Comments
Received Received included in
report at
para:
Internal
Corporate Projects Board 03.12.03 03.12.03
16.12.03 Report sent.
Corporate Team ICT Sub- 05.12.03
Group
Faith Boardman Chief Executive 10.12.03 22.12.03
22.12.03
Cllr Whelan Deputy Leader 10.12.03 21.12.03
18.12.03
Cllr Lumsden Executive Member 18.12.03 22.12.03
Mike Dickens Legal 17.12.03 18.12.03
Jonathan Williams Finance 17.12.03 22.12.03
Chris Lee Assistant Chief Executive 19.12.03
Richard Ennis Director of Finance 19.12.03
Date consultation entered in Consultation and Events Diary: N/A

Report History
Decision Type: Key Decision Date of first entry in Forward Plan:
Drafted on: 28.11.03 Deadline: 11.12.03 Date sent: 22.12.03 Date Published: 23.12.03

Report drafted by & Joan Miller, Head of E-Government & Tel: 020 7926 9133
contact for enquiries: ICT Strategy

1. Context

1.1 One of the priority objectives in Lambeth’s recovery programme is to develop

services in a way that focuses on, and makes sense to, the customer rather than
simply presenting customers with a reflection of our internal structures. These new
services are supported by electronic systems and services and the change
programme simplifies our administrative processes and service delivery. This
change programme goes under the title of the E-Government agenda, and councils
are required to adopt an E-Government strategy and action plan to meet targets of
100% electronic transactions and joined up services by 2005.

1.2 The ODPM framework for implementing E-Government is set out under the
headings:

1. Interactions
2. Access Channels
3. Trust & Connections
4. Enablers
5. Core Systems
6. People.
1.3 A number of national pilot projects have developed innovative projects in these
areas and provided case studies for us to use and learn from.

2. Detailed Analysis and Reason

2.1 Lambeth’s has already developed a number of fairly advanced electronic

applications (see Fig below). These back office applications (5. core systems)
provide support to the casework for specialists working in particular departments.
Projects are also underway to develop and improve the corporate core systems
such as finance, HR, and property resource systems. Lambeth has also a number
of projects underway that will develop some of the customer facing services (2.
Access Channels) needed to provide simple-to-access services. However if we are
to provide the customer with a service that is full of content and is more likely to
deliver the service and information requested at the first point of contact with the
Council, then we will need to join these existing services and projects up into an
overall framework, briefly outlined in the diagram below.

Technical E-Government Framework

2.2 The aim will be to deliver not just Internet or call centre access channels, but also
to join up the information flows and to achieve the integration of systems (1.
Transactions, 3.Trust & Connections/Integration 4. Enablers). This will provide
 customers with easy access to information and simplified administration processes
to provide the answers to their requests. We will also need to support this with
robust technology, such as improved networks and resilient hardware (3. Turst &
Connections/Network & Security), that will mean that these systems continue to
work as we increase their use.

2.3 Annex 1 to Appendix A describes in a timeline the project work that will complete
this framework. The lines show the work that is underway (in green), the work that
urgently needs to be commissioned to provide the level of service intended (in red)
and the optional work that the Council may wish to commission (in blue).

Managing the Changes

2.4 For the future our aim is to co-ordinate the E-Government work undertaken across
the council into one E-Government action plan which drives the annual IEG
statement. This will involve joint departmental responsibility and construction of the
plan, together with co-ordination of the standards and projects to ensure that we
are building one integrated framework. Working together with Organisational
change managers and programme managers, the E-Government action plan will
involve significant change in the way staff work as well as change in the way the
public can access our services. We will need to plan these changes through
education and involvement programmes (2.People) that should be included in our
action plan. Where appropriate we will work in partnership with other local
authorities and the private sector.

Areas of the Framework being addressed

2.5 Projects to develop Access Channels are well advanced. For example:

• By April 04 we will have improved our internet platform, be able to access

forms and make payments on-line, have implemented a contact centre for
customers of Environment’s services, implemented a Customer relationship
Management system (CRM), and provided staff with flexible working options.

• By the Autumn 05 we expect to have new face-to-face joined up services in

Streatham, public access to services at Libraries, transactional payments
electronically enabled across council services, social services and housing
services will be available at the contact centre and integrated with CRM
system

Additional Work

2.6 The proposals for developing projects to fill the gaps are summarised below:

1. Join up planning so that our IEG statement is driven by department as well

as Corporate targets.
 2. Improve management of projects. As part of the improvement of our
programme management capability, we are strengthening the Governance
processes around the programme. The proposed management framework
and associated principles have been defined in an E-Government Programme
Model, which is in the process of being implemented. Initially this will cover
central projects, but over time will also need to include oversight and co-
ordination of departmental projects.

3. Improve management of data and knowledge. We need to identify and

implement consistent standards across the council’s systems. This does not
necessarily mean increased expenditure, but does mean the co-ordination of
staff working on separate projects.

4. Rationalisation of the hardware and applications and network. Lambeth

runs many dispersed applications across multiple hardware platforms under
similarly dispersed management. We recommend that these are brought
together under a single management organisation with consolidation of
hardware, networks and applications. This will allow the maximum gain from
investment and save money that could be better spent on upgrading our
services.

The existing network is at the limit of its operating capacity with current
systems and traffic volumes. We are investing in new systems and new
activity both centrally and within the departments. Unless we also invest in
increased network capacity, we will experience increasing problems with
response times and availability that will soon become unacceptable.

5. Improvement in processes that affect the public. This will include the
ability of the public to use the internet to do business with the council,
including making payments online, e.g. for parking fees and council tax.

6. Improvement in processes that increase the efficiency of the Council’s

internal processes. We aim to reduce the complexity and administrative
overhead. e.g. e-procurement, integrated records for children for every child
matter and integrating case records from the CRM front office to the specialist
services.

7. Establish initiatives to develop public and staff skills and access to

electronic services and, in doing so, develop projects which will address
problems of exclusion and disadvantage of those who have less access to
electronic systems.

Measuring the Change

2.7 Benchmarking against other council’s will assist Lambeth in measuring it’s
progress against the E-Government objectives. We will establish activity to
measure ourselves against national benchmarks such as annual IEG statements
and SOCITM performance indicators for IT services.

2.8 We will undertake a research programme from Jan-Apr 04 to identify a detailed

project plan for Apr 04-Apr 07, establishing the dependencies across the projects
and detailed timetable and priority projects identified in the gap analysis. We will
measure our progress against those projects through the Corporate Programme
Office.

3. Financial Implications

3.1 The October Star Chamber demonstrated an e-government capital funding

requirement in 2004/05 of £6.1 m (£4.45 m of ongoing commitments and a further
£1.65 m for ICT infrastructure, one of the three prioritised capital bids included
within the draft budget report). The budget requirements for 2005/06 were
reassessed at £4 m (reduced from £5.15 m), while the 2006/07 provision is new.

3.2 The revenue savings associated with this level of investment (£13.1 m between
2004/05 and 2006/07) are approximately £11.6 m. Revenue savings in excess of
£20 m are anticipated over the next five years, based on the profile of savings
relating to years 2 and 3 of investment, only being fully realised in years 4 and 5.

4. Legal Implications

4.1 The strategy outlined in this report will assist the Council in achieving its general
duty under section 3 of the Local Government Act 1999 to make arrangements to
secure continuous improvement in the way in which our functions are exercised
having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

4.2 Under powers provided by Section 4 of the Local Government Act 1999 the
Secretary of State made an order in respect of performance indicators and
standards in respect of E- Government

5. Consultation Feedback

5.1 Feedback from those consulted has been incorporated in the report.
6. Other Implications

Equalities

6.1 The e-government programme provides an opportunity to deliver social inclusion

through ensuring that the whole community has equal access to our services
through a channel of their choice. All projects will be monitored to ensure that
every opportunity is taken to make this happen.

Crime and Disorder

6.2 None.

Environmental Implications

6.3 None

CPA Recovery Plan

6.4 The implementation of the recommendations will enable a key part of the CPA
Recovery Plan to be delivered.

Risk Management

6.5 A Risk Register is being drawn up for the Programme by the recently formed E-
Government Programme Office. Each project within the programme develops a
Project Risk Register.

Staffing and Accommodation Implications

6.6 The programme supports the agreed accommodation strategy through introducing
new ways of working, releasing space through document imaging and the
implementation of streamlined business processes.

Impact on Front Line

6.7 The programme will improve the quality of services delivered to customers and
reduce unit costs.

Area Implications

6.8 The implementation of Joint Service Centres will provide local access to a range of
services locally within the community across Lambeth.
 Any Other Implications

6.9 None

7. Timetable for Implementation and Success Criteria

7.1 The timetable is shown as Annexe 1 of appendix A. Benchmarking against other

local authorities will be undertaken and each project will be measured against the
performance criteria specified at the outset normally through a feasibility process.

8. Appendices

8.1 Appendix A (and Annex 1) Lambeth E-Government Framework.

9. List of Background Documents

IEG 3 Statement
E-Government Programme Model
Roadmap for Customer Services