Do they help to streamline public administration?
Sweden’s National Audit Office (Riksrevisionens) has started an audit of the country’s eGovernment services. Sweden’s eGovernment services are perceived as ‘fragmented and short-sighted’, the NAO wrote on 3 December. The review aims to find out whether the government is using digitalisation as an opportunity to streamline public administration.
The results of the audit are expected next summer.
Public administrations’ use of ICT solutions allows for more efficient operations, and Sweden wants to the best in the world in the use of these opportunities, the NAO writes.
Disquietude
The NAO notes that, since 2000, there have been many reports about problems and ambiguities in eGovernment services, in particular for the management of joint services. “The government has undertaken several investigations, as well as the Council of State and other government bodies. Despite that, problems and uncertainties have not been remedied, and the government's control over its eGovernment services is perceived as fragmented and short-sighted.”
The auditors explain that digitisation and eGovernment services can be used to streamline government operations, resulting in significant savings. Examples include central services for official correspondence between public administrations and citizens and companies, electronic archives, online handling of data and documents and a unified way to share and provide access to open data.