Estonians twice as likely to use public e-Services than Britons

The UK’s e-government strategy is fragmented and producer driven, says Andrew Lomas, author of "Rewiring Democracy", a study that compares Estonia's record in e-government with Britain's - and finds the bigger country lacking.

'Despite a lower level of personal Internet usage in Estonia, Estonians are over twice as likely to utilize the Internet to interact with public authorities.'

Lomas, writing for the Adam Smith Institute, concludes that the UK will never deliver its full potential benefits to the public. 'By contrast, tiny Estonia has re-thought its government systems around the new techonology - resulting in much higher online access to government services and great public satisfaction.'

The report from the right wing think-tank, not traditionally in tune with UK Labour governments, comes just as a lot of fuss is being made about getting local authorities on the Web by the target date of end 2005.

Excerpts from the, very thorough, report give an insight into why the new country is doing so much better strategically.

'In the early 1990s the Estonian government took the decision to scrap all of its existing outdated Soviet hardware and replace it with a new infrastructure. Despite difficulties including a lack of finance and limited communications networks, progress was made and now Estonia boasts some of the world’s most dynamic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies. Software such as Kazaa, which allows file sharing, and Skype, an Internet-based phone service, both originate from Estonia.'

The report goes on: 'At first thought, one would expect a developed country such as the UK to compare favourably with a country that as recently as 15 years ago existed as a nation but not a state. That first thought would be wrong.

'The figures show a much greater use of the Internet by individuals in the UK than Estonia. From this, one would expect (assuming similar infrastructure) to see the UK having the largest uptake of government services via the Internet. This is not the case.

The report acknowledges there are good reasons that any comparison between the UK and Estonia might be described as invalid. For example: 1. Size: Estonia has a population of 1.4 million spread over an area of 45,277 km2 compared with 59.9 million and 243,820 km2 respectively for the UK. 2. Infrastructure: the Estonian government started from scratch with a clear aim whereas the UK has a highly developed and complicated bureaucracy with many cultural and institutional barriers to change. 3. Political Culture: Estonian politicians as a whole were quick to embrace the idea of open government after years of dictatorial Soviet misrule.

'However, these differences,' says the report, ' are important only when one is considering implementation: when it comes to the strategic goals of e-government, a great deal can be learnt from the Estonian example in achieving better and more open government.

Associated Link: Adam Smith Institute: Rewiring Democracy

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