eGovernment

eGovernment is about changing the way we deliver our services to meet the needs of the citizen and using technology to enable us to achieve this...

It is about providing public services to the citizen where they want them, when they want them and how they want them, at their convenience not the service providers.

Existing service delivery usually takes the form of:

• different sources of help and information
• only available 9.00 to 5.00
• Monday to Friday
• some travelling by members of the public involved 

eGovernment will transform this to:

• help and information on a variety of subjects available at first point of contact.
• available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week
• available in the home or 5 minutes walk away               

At the same time we must ensure that new technology does not create a digital divide between those with ready access to electronic media and those without.

Typical means of accessing our services electronically include:

• telephone via a Customer Services Centre
• PC  via our website
• digital TV via our website
• mobile phone via our website
• face to face in 'One Stop Shops' - 8 till late
• kiosks

The Council is committed to implementing eGovernment.

We are also working in partnership with the other Local Authorities in the County of Durham to share the cost of eGovernment.

For further details on our strategy for eGovernment please refer to our Implementing eGovernment strategy (IEG), which can be downloaded from this website.

The council has appointed a member eChampion Councillor Dan Myers and an officer eChampion Barry Nicholson.