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PRIME MINISTER Report from the e-Minister and acting e-Envoy - 31 March 2000 Summary This month we unveiled further details of our strategy for getting the UK on-line, with major policy announcements about:
Introduction This is our third report to you on progress towards the Government’s goal of developing the UK as the best place in the world for e-commerce. This report gives an overview of developments since our last report. As before, it is structured around the work in hand to deliver the modern markets, confident people and businesses, and leading edge government which the UK needs to succeed. A more detailed report on progress against each of the 60 commitments in our e-commerce strategy, e-commerce@its.best.uk, is attached. a) Modern markets : getting the market framework right Communications In keeping with our commitment to be the best in the world for e-commerce, on 6 March, we launched the world's first auction of spectrum for third generation mobile telecommunications licences. These offer the prospect of high-resolution video and multimedia services on the move, such as mobile office services, virtual banking and on-line billing, home shopping, video conferencing, on-line entertainment and Internet access. According to the latest OECD Internet Access Price Comparison, the UK is the cheapest place in the world for off-peak internet access - for 30 hours or 40 hours a month access, and the fourth cheapest for 20 hours a month. These findings, based on prices in US Dollars at Purchasing Power Parity, come from OECD's survey of 29 member states. For peak rate access, the OECD found that the UK remains relatively highly priced, although the introduction of unmetered access is allowing the UK to be competitive in the OECD's "always on" pricing category. Moreover, these figures do not take account of all the unmetered products now coming on line in the UK. The last month has seen even more developments in this area, with Ntl offering unmetered Internet access to their telephone customers making at least £10 of non-Internet calls per month; Freeserve offering it to existing subscribers who redirect £10 of non-Internet calls per month via the Energis network; and BT Internet offering unmetered off-peak access for £9.99 per month. In addition, Alta Vista announced free Internet access for a small annual subscription. Significant progress is also being made in introducing competitive pressures into the market for new higher bandwidth services such as high-speed ‘always-on’ Internet access and video-on-demand. On 10 March, OFTEL announced a consultation on the legal mechanism through which local loop unbundling will be introduced. Subject to the results of the consultation process, OFTEL plans to have the new licence condition in place by June 2000. Unbundling will allow operators to lease local access lines from BT, upgrade them to provide increased capacity and deliver innovative higher bandwidth services direct to customers. And in segments of the market which are fully competitive, we will continue to roll back regulation. On 9 March , in the light of increasing competition in certain international markets, OFTEL reduced the regulatory requirements on BT on the majority of the most commonly called international routes. This will have the effect of reducing costs of international calls, particularly for small businesses. The legal and regulatory framework There have been significant developments this month, both in the UK and the EU. In the UK the Chancellor announced measures to make the UK the best place for e-commerce and to enable us to catch up with the USA. These measures included:
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill, has received its Second Reading and is now in Committee. There is some concern, particularly within the telecommunications industry, that the costs of complying with the Bill may prove excessive. There is also some concern that those parts of the Bill that provide for the law enforcement agencies to gain lawful access to decryption keys may disadvantage legitimate UK businesses. We have been in consultation with the Home Office on these issues which are being addressed as the Bill goes through Parliament. In the EU, you attended the European Council special meeting on 23-24 March in Lisbon. You and other Heads of Government agreed on a new strategic goal: to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. The Portuguese Presidency conclusions identified a number of steps that need to be taken in order for Europe to realise its full e-potential, including the need to reach fast-track agreement this year on he remaining EU measures needed to complete the legal framework for e-commerce. A comprehensive eEurope Action Plan will be presented to the European Council in June this year. b) Confident people and businesses Building access On 1 March you made a commitment to ensure that everyone who wants it will have access to the Internet by 2005, whether in the home through a personal computer, Digital TV or games console, on the move through a mobile telephone, or at a nearby public access point. Current Government initiatives to increase individuals’ access and skills include:
On 28 March, Patricia Hewitt, together with Michael Wills, launched the report 'Closing the Digital Divide'. This report, by Policy Action Team 15, recommends ways of encouraging people to use modern information and communications technologies. The most significant recommendation is that, by April 2002, every deprived neighbourhood should have at least one publicly accessible community-based facility to complement any home access. Helping small businesses In the Budget on 21 March, Gordon Brown announced an e-commerce package for SMEs worth £60 million. This includes new support to help SMEs understand the benefits of the internet; to help them get on line; and to enable them to access business advice and make tax returns over the internet. The Small Business Service, which we are launching today, will use £20m to develop a business advice service, both on line and at the end of a telephone, to be up and running from April 2001. Additional Budget measures included a new £50m regional innovation fund for the Regional Development Agencies to invest over the next two financial years in providing support for business clusters and incubators in the English regions. While aimed at promoting cluster growth and nurturing high growth new business start-ups of all sorts, we expect this fund to have a particularly valuable role in supporting the development of ICT and e-commerce businesses. Branding Strategy You have agreed the way forward on a single, cross-Government communications and branding strategy for the Information Age activities of all departments, based around the theme of "UK Online". UK Online will be the name of the new personalised gateway to Government’s online services planned for launch in July (previous working title, "me.gov"). In addition, the "UK Online" brand will be used to draw together the wide range of Government programmes aimed at promoting and facilitating participation in the Information Age: including DTI’s Information Society Initiative and IT for All programmes, DfEE’s national network of ICT Learning Centres and the "People’s Network" of wired libraries being rolled out by DCMS. c) Leading edge government: exploiting ICT to transform public services Electronic service delivery In driving forward the strategy for information age government, the most significant development was your announcement on 30 March that we are bringing forward the target for 100% of Government services to be available online through personal computer, telephone, or Digital TV from 2008 to 2005.. We have been making good progress. Already, we offer online advice in areas such as health, overseas travel and consumer protection. From next week individuals can register to file their self-assessment tax-returns over the Internet. Businesses can already make online returns to Companies House, and from January next year they will be able to make VAT returns online, with VAT discounts coming into effect from April 2001. In the Budget the Chancellor extended the scope of the discounts previously announced for SA and PAYE returns to include employers who pay tax credits via the payroll and to those who use an accredited Internet payroll service. Today the Small Business Service is launching a website offering small and medium sized businesses tailored advice based on their size, location, and sector. But we must speed up the pace of change in Government so that we can offer our businesses and citizens more efficient and effective services. That is why the Cabinet decided last week to bring forward the target. The Cabinet also agreed our detailed strategy for achieving this, "E-Government", which Ian McCartney is publishing today. Electronic procurement In 1998, a target was announced that: "90% of low value goods and services (by volume) to be purchased electronically by 2001". In support of this target (and of the overall £1bn target announced in the Gershon report), the OGC is developing an electronic Government ‘Shopping Mall’ for the purchase of low value goods and services. The Mall will feature collaborative cross-government frameworks and will benefit departments through ensuring that overall, we get the best deal, and pay one price. The Mall will also be one of the first examples of a ‘joined-up’ and fully modernised approach to government procurement. Users will be able to purchase low value items from a browser-type facility on their desktops (through contracts which have been arranged by procurement professionals). OGC is tendering for service providers currently, and the Mall will be open for business from early summer 2000. In addition, The Buying Agency (TBA) has taken the first steps towards the provision of a full e-commerce trading facility for its public sector customers. It is launching a pilot online facility on 1 April with six of its customers. A phased roll-out will follow during the rest of the year. The facility will cover all the TBA’s 500,000 products and services that are represented in its direct call-off contracts and which form the basis of its product catalogue. This allows any of the TBA’s existing customers in the public sector to continue to use the call-off contracts with which they are familiar, and in which they have confidence, in an electronic environment. The NHS has its own supplies organisation, and this is being relaunched from 1 April as the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency. Electronic e-commerce trading systems (SupplyStream) have been developed which will allow paperless requisitioning and purchasing, integrated to finance systems. An electronic warehousing system is already in place. Electronic tendering is currently being tested and the electronic catalogue continues to be refined and is available on the web as well as in CD-ROM format.
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