E-envoy roasted over e-government

MPs have given the e-Envoy and Customs & Excise (C&E) a battering over the progress and value for money of e-government.

Andrew Pinder and Richard Broadbent, the head of C&E, appeared before the Public Accounts Committee to answer criticisms made in the Government on the Web II report by the National Audit Office earlier this year.

The report maintained that there is still no methodology for establishing the financial costs and benefits of online government services, and no central collection of data on website usage.

MPs questioned whether any of the e-government projects to date had delivered value for the taxpayer.

But Pinder claimed that all projects had been subject to value for money tests and that the returns will only be realised with widespread take-up of the services.

C&E came in for fierce criticism from the committee about the performance of its online VAT returns system after the report revealed that only 1,000 out of a possible 1.7 million people had used the service.

"On this you have made no progress at all," said Committee chairman Edward Leigh.

Broadbent acknowledged that there is no benefit for companies to file returns online, and said that the underlying business processes needed to be changed to add value.

One MP asked flippantly if these incentives would include selling insurance or showing a movie.

But Broadbent said that emailing VAT returns is just one option being looked at.

"We could send an email once a month saying it has been done for you, are you happy with it? There will be the opportunity to change the return and the opportunity to pay other taxes at the same time," he explained.

In response to criticism about the lack of any central information on e-government progress, Pinder indicated that his office is about to embark on an audit of government departments.