The e-Government Unit (eGU) was a unit of the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

of the

government of the United Kingdom His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

responsible for helping various government departments use

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

to increase efficiency and improve electronic access to government services. It was therefore deeply involved in issues of

e-Government E-government (known for electronic government) involves utilizing technology devices, such as computers and the Internet, for faster means of delivering public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. E-government offer ...

. The unit was created by Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

in September 2004, replacing the

Office of the e-Envoy The Office of the e-Envoy was set up by the British government of Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1999 and was replaced by the E-Government Unit in September 2004. The first e-Envoy was Alex Allan. He was succeeded by Andrew Pinder in October 2 ...

. Its first head was

Ian Watmore Ian Charles Watmore (born 5 July 1958) is a British management consultant and former senior civil servant under three prime ministers, who served from October 2016 to September 2021 as the First Civil Service Commissioner. Early life and busi ...

, who was succeeded in January 2006 by

Andrew Stott Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

. The eGU website was closed down in 2007.

Mission

The eGU’s stated mission was to "ensur that IT supports the business transformation of Government itself so that we can provide better, more efficient, public services." The eGU was responsible for * formulating

(IT) strategy and policy * developing common IT components for use across government * promoting best practices across government * delivering citizen-centered online services The eGU website listed six guiding principles for the unit: # To work on public service projects, not just IT projects # To add value and support, rather than control or dictate # To undertake partnerships with departments and suppliers # To set realistic expectations and aim to exceed them # To promote global best practices # To share solutions when possible, and offer flexibility to meet unique needs

Responsibilities

Responsibilities of the eGU included: * Strategy – to develop policy and planning for

Information and Communication Technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

(ICT) within the Government and to provide an element of

programme management Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

; to support the Government's objectives for public service delivery and administrative efficiency. * Architecture – to provide policy, design, standards, governance, advice and guidance for ICT in central government; to commission government-wide infrastructure and services; to address issues of systems integration with other levels of government. * Innovation – to provide high-level advice to government bodies on innovative opportunities that come from ICT. * IT Finance – to monitor major IT projects in the Government and give advice on major investment decisions, in partnership with the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). * IT HR – to lead the Government’s professional IT development. * Projects – to take on ad hoc policy and strategy studies to support ministers, the Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury. * Research – to identify and communicate key technology trends, opportunities, threats and risks. * Security – to oversee government IT security policy, standards, monitoring and assurance, and contingency-planning for the critical national infrastructure. * Supplier management – to manage the top-level relationship with strategic suppliers to the Government and to carry out supplier analysis, in partnership with OGC.

References

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External links

Archive of the e-Government Unit
Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom British Prime Minister's Office E-government in the United Kingdom Open government in the United Kingdom Cabinet Office (United Kingdom)