ODPM hands over to regions

An e-government regional partner-ship group will take over the e-enablement responsibilities of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) next year, following the December e-government deadline.

The ODPM will pass responsibility to the group in March. It will comprise two representatives from each region tasked with shaping policy around the online government agenda for local authorities.

An ODPM representative said: “The ODPM is not pulling out. We have always looked for local authorities to take a bigger role and to enable them to meet the deadline.”

All UK local authorities are expected to have their services online by December. The average council currently has 79 per cent of its services online and should meet the dead-ine, according to the Implementing Electronic Government survey.

Pete Mistry, technical sales consultant at VAR Eclipse Group, said: “This changes our established relations. We could miss out on tenders.”