Executive Summary

2 The E-government Strategy ('the strategy') has been revised for the second time. This has been done to ensure that the e-government programme is driving ahead in the right directions, that agencies know what is expected of them, and that e-government challenges are understood and addressed.

3 The strategy should be seen primarily as an aspirational statement of the Government's vision and commitment to using public sector information and technology to improve public sector performance in delivering results to New Zealanders. The strategy now provides a context for enabling long-run change in government, summarised in a new e-government mission statement:

1. By June 2004, the Internet will be the dominant means of enabling ready access to government information, services and processes.

2. By June 2007, networks and Internet technologies will be integral to the delivery of government information, services and processes.

3. By June 2010, the operation of government will have been transformed through its use of the Internet.

4 Good progress is being made toward achieving e-government goals. The foundations for e-government are being progressively developed. Agencies are delivering e-government initiatives that increasingly build on these foundations. During 2002, the United Nations report Benchmarking E-government: A Global Perspective ranked New Zealand third among 169 nations on a global e-government leadership index.

5 The public is responding positively to e-government. For example, since its implementation, use of the new all-of-government portal ('the portal') has shown strong monthly growth running ahead of underlying growth in the use of the Internet.

6 We have seen how we can leverage investments in e-government. Reuse of parts of the portal by WorkSite (the new labour marketportal) has provided immediate capital savings of $400,000. Many more opportunities of this type exist.

7 Much has been learned, both about e-government and about the realities of inter-agency collaboration. This learning shows that, while the E-government Strategy is sound, there are significant challenges ahead of the programme, and collaboration requires commitment, time, trust, and resources. It also requires common frameworks of standards, and good governance arrangements that support cross-agency decision-making and the right balance of decision-rights between the centre and line agencies.

8 Ministers are asked to approve this revision, and take steps to ensure that as many government agencies as possible actively commit themselves to its implementation.