Brown outlines advanced UK digital strategy

Brown said that a digital economy is key to the UK's recovery

Prime minister Gordon Brown announced in a speech this morning that two new bodies will work with the public sector to drive forward his vision of a " digital economy".

Brown said that both organisations will transform how public services are delivered over the internet, and make them more accessible to citizens.

Improving the way the public sector communicates over the internet will dramatically cut the sector's operational costs and lead to improved democracy, according to the prime minister.

An Institute of Web Science will work with the government and business "to realise the social and economic benefits of advances in the web", Brown said.

The institute will receive £30m from the government for research and will be headed up by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and the developer behind data.gov.uk, a web site launched in January to open up public data.

Additionally, Brown said that he will establish a new digital public service unit at the heart of the Cabinet Office, which will be headed up by Martha Lane Fox, the UK's digital inclusion champion.

"The unit will be charged with ensuring that departments achieve rapid progress on transferring and transforming services to online channels," Brown said.

He added that government web sites have to be made more efficient to meet people's needs, and that new standards of quality will be set, such as a requirement that they allow feedback and engagement. Some 900 unnecessary government web sites have already been closed and another 500 will be cut soon, Brown said.

Brown went on to say that the first generation of e-government is to be replaced by a more interactive second generation called Mygov.

"Mygov marks the end of the 'one size fits all', 'man from the ministry knows best' approach to public services," said Brown.

"Mygov will give people a simple 'dashboard' to manage their pensions, tax credits or child benefits, pay their council tax, fix their doctor or hospital appointment and control their own treatment, apply for the schools of their choice and communicate with their children's teachers, or get a new passport or driving licence, all available when and where they need it."

Brown also suggested that the new digital economy would need a less centralised government.

"I want to look again at whether we need so many independent Whitehall departments in the age of digital government. Most policy and delivery issues cut across departmental boundaries and it is not clear, despite much innovation and experimentation with cross cutting units projects and public service agreements, how the traditional silo-based Whitehall approach can best be overcome," he said.

Brown explained that his vision for the digital economy would fit with the next generation of the web, which he referred to as the "semantic web, or the web of linked data".

This so-called semantic web will see citizens in charge of public services and a new era of openness, according to Brown. Citizens will have more direct contact with the private and public sectors, and traditional media communication teams will be bypassed.

Key to the new digital age will be "superfast" broadband for all, Brown added.

However, commentators have warned that Brown's vision will not be a simple task for the government.

"The success of this project will be the ability to integrate multiple systems through one portal, seamlessly to the end user," said Colin Rowland, European operations vice president at transaction manegement firm OpTier.

"It will be crucial for the government to ensure that the infrastructure and IT systems are up to the task, and able to cope with the massive surge in online use that a system used by 60 million people could cause."

Meanwhile, the Open Rights Group has argued that Labour's plans for online openness and transparency are contradictory to the policies put forward in the Digital Economy Bill.

The legislation would see ISPs having to monitor individuals' internet access, and disconnect household accounts if illegal file sharing is seen to be taking place.

"Online government is a great idea, but Labour cannot say that people will depend on online government, and simultaneously plan to disconnect families after allegations of minor copyright offences," said Open Rights Group chief executive Jim Killock.