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PRIME MINISTER
Report from the e-Minister and
acting e-Envoy - 15th November 2000
On September 11, you published
the first annual report of the e-Minister and e-Envoy, the
UK online annual report, and launched UK online – the
new drive to get individuals, businesses and Government online.
The UK online report set out our strategy for driving forward
this programme of change, refreshing and revising the strategy
you first set out in the report
e-commerce@its.best.uk in September 1999. Today, we are
publishing (at www.e-envoy.gov.uk
), the Government’s implementation
plan for UK online, setting out how we will take forward
each of the commitments in the report.
We are also publishing this,
our first report on progress against the UK online strategy.
It is structured around the five key priorities identified in
the UK online strategy: modern markets, confident people,
successful businesses, world
class supply sector and leading
edge government. We shall be reporting each month on further
progress.
Modern Markets
Work has been continuing
towards local loop unbundling. On 19 September, Oftel informed
operators of the 361 BT local exchanges where they can install
their own equipment to provide high speed services to consumers
in competition with BT. This will enable 28 different operators
to install equipment in BT's exchanges and begin providing
high speed services to consumers and businesses in the New
year. Oftel has also now published
the details of the requirements on BT to ensure that local
loop unbundling is carried out fully and without discrimination.
The
guidelines will ensure that BT provides services to other
operators on equivalent terms to those applied to its own
business. This includes treating its own business in the same
way as others for the allocation of space in its exchanges.
At the European Union level, the Telecoms Council agreed the
proposed regulation on unbundled access to the local loop
on 3 October.
On 10 October, Oftel announced
the start of a major
review of the dial-up Internet access market. The review
will consider how competition has developed in the Internet
access market and whether consumers are getting the best deal
possible through effective competition.
On 3 October, Patricia
published
the draft regulations setting out the conditions in which
businesses can record and monitor e-mails and phone-calls.
The regulations – made under the Regulation of Investigatory
Powers Act - allow business and public authorities to record
or monitor communications without the caller's consent in
such cases as:
- Recording evidence of transactions;
- Ensuring compliance with regulatory
or self regulatory rules or guidance;
- Gaining routine access to
business communications;
- Maintaining the effective
operation of their systems;
- Monitoring standards of service
and training; and
- Combating crime and the unauthorised
use of their systems.
Confident
People
On 26 September, the Office for
National Statistics released new
figures on Internet access and use, based on questions
included in the National Statistics Omnibus survey in July
2000.The main
finding was that 45% of adults in Britain have accessed the
Internet at some time. The figures showed continuing wide
variations according to age and social group, with older and
poorer groups making less use of the Internet. Oftel also
published research on 11 October showing that home access
to the Internet
and take up of digital
TV services is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. The
figures showed that seven million UK homes (28 per cent) are
now connected to the Internet, with almost one million homes
having gone on line in the three months to August.
These figures show that growth
in the Internet population is continuing, but remains unevenly
spread.
Michael Wills (Minister for Learning
and Technology) launched
Parents Online Week on 18 September. Parents Online will give
practical advice and reassurance to help families make the
most of the internet safely. At the same time, the Internet
Watch Foundation opened a new Web
site and Safe Surfing Guide for Parents. This explains
to parents and carers the various dangers that children can
be exposed to on the Internet, and gives simple tips on how
they can keep their children safe.
On 26 September, you announced
new funding that will ensure a computer for every five pupils
in secondary schools by 2004. This represents a huge rise
from 1998 when on average nine pupils had to share a computer
in secondary schools.
On 11 October, Michael Wills announced
the first wave of a new scheme – the Computers within Reach
initiative - to wire up the poorest communities, provide computers
to every resident who wants one, and offer online services
and free online learning. The first wired up community will
be Kensington, in Liverpool, an area of high unemployment
which will benefit from a public private partnership to give
every household a computer.
We hope this will help overcome
the barriers people may face in accessing employment, education
and local services, and it will give many the opportunity
to use the Internet for the first time.
Successful Businesses
On 21 September, the Government
launched the 3e's initiative: e-business, the euro and exports.
Speaking at the launch, Helen Liddell, Minister for European
Competitiveness, challenged British small businesses to turn
the Internet revolution and the euro to their advantage. Patricia
launched the initiative to the ethnic business community in
Leicester on 22 September. The 3e’s initiative was developed
by DTI and Trade Partners UK, the export arm of the government.
It is designed to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
and intermediaries trading on-line understand how e-business,
exports and the euro are changing the working environment.
On 10 October, the DTI published
its International
Benchmarking Study 2000, Business in the Information Age.
The report benchmarks the extent to which UK businesses are
using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to
engage in e-commerce. The report found that businesses representing
27% of UK employment are trading online, putting the UK on
a par with the USA and Canada and ahead of Germany and Sweden.
The figures also showed that 1.7 million SMEs are now online,
up from 600,000 last year. This exceeds the Government's target
of getting 1.5 million SMEs online by 2002, two years early.
On 31 October, Inside UK Enterprise, in partnership with UK
online for business, hosted a fair on 31 October at the
DTI conference centre in London. E-Commerce Champions demonstrated
how they have developed and implemented E-Commerce.
Getting Government online
The
Information Age Ministers have agreed that the UK online Citizens’
Portal should go live at the beginning of December. The initial
version of the site will be presented publicly as a large
scale test site and will include four life episodes (Having
a baby, moving home; dealing with crime; going away) plus
a news feed, a search engine and a public consultation area
called Citizen Space.
From
December, we intend to mount an opinion-finding exercise to
encourage users to let us know what improvements they would
like to see on the site in future. We anticipate proactively
launching the next version of the site in February next year.
By this time the site should have a more sophisticated search
capability based on free text questions; two more life episodes
and, we hope, some initial Local Authority participation.
The timing of the launch will also tie in with the opening
of the first UK online centres, also planned for February.
The site is planned to reach its
full first stage scope before the official pilot phase ends
in July 2001, when it will include some 10 life episodes
and substantial private sector, local authority and voluntary
sector participation.
Peter Gershon, the Chief Executive
of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), announced
on 20 September that interested parties were being invited
to submit outline proposals and ideas for pilot projects on
some or all aspects of electronic commerce in public procurement.
Some new electronic services
have been unveiled in the last month.
- A new easy-to-use interactive
website
aimed at helping workers and employers find out how the
National Minimum Wage (NMW) applies to them (http://www.tiger.gov.uk/home.htm);
- A new
system which allows certain court proceedings to be
issued electronically through the Bulk Centre, which processes
over half of all County Court claims;
- A new web gateway which will
become a forum for US and UK teachers to share best practice.
(http://www.teachernet.gov.uk).
This will help teachers communicate across boundaries worldwide.
- A new central
government Internet service for communicating with local
authorities. (http://www.info4local.gov.uk)
This site is a gateway bringing together relevant material
from key government departments and agencies, including
the Cabinet Office. It is designed to help local councils
get the information they need to know by highlighting the
publication of important documents and guidance on departments'
own web sites.
The Government’s first Director
of e-communications, Lucian Hudson, has taken up post, reporting
to the e-Envoy This is a key role in ensuring the Government
has a first-class internet presence and all its services are
online by 2005. Lucian will head the team responsible for
developing new content for the UK online government portal
and co-ordinating work across departments and agencies to
improve quality of Government websites.
World Class Supply
On
10 October, Patricia announced a new £5.5 million Internet
Mentoring
Initiative to help internet start-ups and established small
and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to make the internet the
centre of their business.
Leadership and Co-ordination
Since the launch of the UK online
initiative we have been working with partner organisations
to develop the details of how their support will be delivered.
The responses to the advertisements
for a replacement e-Envoy have now been reviewed, and we are
hoping that a replacement for Alex Allan can be in place by
the end of the year. In the mean time, to maintain momentum
and continuity, Andrew Pinder has been appointed as acting
e-Envoy; Andrew has not applied for the post on a permanent
basis.
Measuring Success
On 22 September, Michael Wills
announced
that a new research centre is to be created to investigate
the impact of new technology on society. The centre will bring
together individuals to form an expert body in the development,
review and use of Information Communications Technology research
nationally and internationally. It will carry out a programme
of research, review and analysis designed to build up a comprehensive
database of knowledge.
The DTI’s International Benchmarking
Survey was published on 10 October, showing that 1.7 million
SMEs are now online, up from 600,000 last year. This exceeds
the Government's target of getting 1.5 million SMEs online
by 2002, two years early.
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Patricia Hewitt
e-Minister
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Andrew Pinder
Acting e-Envoy
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