GOVERNMENT TRANSACTIONS THROUGH THE
INTERNET
The Government Gateway plays a major
role in ensuring successful delivery of the UK's e-government initiatives.
Working with Government Gateway partners such as Microsoft, Dell,
SchlumbergerSEMA and Cable and Wireless, the OeE's e-Delivery team
launched the Gateway on the 25 January 2001 on time and to budget.
The Gateway allows secure authenticated
transactions and joined-up government services to take place via
the web. The Gateway is an authentication and routing engine built
on open standards, allowing different systems in different government
departments to communicate with the Gateway and with each other.
This means that in the future, electronic transactions involving
many different departments at once will be possible, ensuring a
truly joined-up electronic public service.
Over time it is anticipated that the
Gateway will handle a substantial part of the estimated 5-6 billion
of annual government-related transactions. As part of the UK's Critical
National Infrastructure, the Gateway provides a highly secure environment,
a resilient 'always on' service and the capacity to handle high
volumes.
The UK now has one of the most advanced
e-government infrastructures in the world.
Gateway Functions
The Gateway provides:
- Authentication and authorisation services - which ensure that
users are who they claim to be and that they have the right to
access a specific service or set of services
- A single sign-on facility and single credentials - that are
supported across all government services, national, regional and
local - so that users can have one user ID and password, or a
digital certificate, for use with all online public services
- A common transaction and routing facility - which guarantees
the reliable delivery of documents and messages between business
and citizens and government
- A secure messaging facility - enabling secure communication
between business, citizens and government organisations and also
the secure delivery of items such as tax statements that can be
picked up and processed by accounting software
- An integration tier - offering reliable delivery of standards-based
information into the connecting organisation, including the option
for customised local integration into existing systems and applications
The provision of this common infrastructure
shared across national, regional and local public services:
- Avoids the duplication of the common facilities and services
necessary to connect individual government organisations to customers
over the internet
- Delivers joined-up services by provisioning a common authentication
service thereby enabling a user to interact with many government
organisations using a single identity
- Enables both the private and public sector to provide customer-driven
applications that can interact with government in a consistent
manner
- Concentrates expertise in the areas of security, reliability
and capacity management across a narrow range of systems, promoting
best practice
Recent Developments
The first major upgrade took place in
July 2002. Improvements included:
- Simpler registration and enrolment
- Provision of services where citizens or businesses are dealing
with government for the first time - e.g. VAT registration or
benefit applications
- Redesigned screens and help pages
Gateway Services
The Government services available online
through the Government Gateway are:
- IACS Area Aid Application - Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
- Child Benefit Online - Department for Work & Pensions (DWP)
- DARD Secure Online Service (SOS) Scheme - Department of Agricultural
and Rural Development for Northern Ireland (DARDNI)
- DTI Export Licence Application - Department of Trade & Industry
- Electronic VAT Return - HM Customs and Excise
- Internet Service for Self Assessment - Inland Revenue
- Landweb direct - Land Registers of Northern Ireland (LRNI)
>
Visit the Government Gateway website
> more information on the Government Gateway at
http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/gateway_partnerlink/
>
more information on the OeE's e-Delivery team
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