E-Government and the Digital Divide.

The concept of the digital divide has been evolving over the years, being generally defined as a social issue linked to the different amount of information between those who have access to the information society and technology such as computers, and those who do not. It also refers to countries, regions, cities, and businesses that are at a differentiated economically and culturally with regard to ICT accessibility.
The UK Labour Government under Tony Blair has set targets for the development of E-Government in the UK.  These are aimed at reducing the digital divide in the UK . This divide also effects the way other services are provided, like Police and the National Health Sevice. There are a few ways in how the government has tried to decrease the gap and develop on E-government, these are:

The introduction of online services, and example would be the Government's website, it allows users to find informaion on the current government and allow's users to find out when the next meetings or hearings are taking place. A website such as https://www.gov.uk/ are used for this. This is a good way doing things as in gives people an easy way of accessing government information without the need to even leave their home.

Another way of expanding E-Government is to introduce online payments, payments such as paying taxes and monthly bills can all be done over the internet now and no longer will you need to go to the bank and fill in paperwork. Once again making it easier for the general public to go about their everyday lives.

Online reporting and advice has also been made accessible to the public, this means that people can now go onto the internet and find out the local news and get information on current governmental matters, although such information was available from the television or radio which could be accessed from home just as easily, but being online means that you are able to look back at news incase you miss it first time around on the TV.

Online booking is another useful feature that has been introduced, it allows people to book for appointments or work interviews over the internet, this is very helpful as it saves time and money as you no longer need to actually visit the place you want to book an appointment for beforehand, and means you can avoid driving there and wasting fuel. This service also allows the user to sort out bookings and rearrange meetings without the need to use the phone, it can all be done over email, which is free.

The UK government hopes to have saved £1.3 billion, and the public £1 billion by migrating its sercices to online. This is because they are useing less staff in places like banks and shops, and the public would be saving money as they wouldn't be using as much fuel as before.

With all the advances in E-government, the government has to account for those in low income families who aren't able to access the internet.
The government is to spend £30m over the next three years to bring broadband access to schoolchildren and low-income families. A further £600,000 has also been earmarked to subsidise home computers for entire year groups at 50 education institutions across the country, schools minister Jim Knight told an education conference last week. The plan is the government’s latest attempt to bridge the digital divide between those with access to technology and those without.
The government has already invested £5bn in IT for schools since 1997 and another £837m was budgeted over the next 3 years.
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