Effective online services

Delivering digital public services
Policy Exchange is one of the UK’s leading independent think tanks. It is an educational charity, whose mission is to develop and promote new policy ideas that deliver better public services, a stronger society and a more dynamic economy. 

One of those ideas is the launch of a project that seeks to examine the challenges for delivering truly transformational and effective digital public services in the UK.

Disconnection and digital exclusion
The aim of the ‘Getting digital public services right where it matters most’ project is to determine how to maximise the potential of the internet and digital channels to engage disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in society.

The charity’s primary focus will be on the approximately 1 million young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs). But it is also interested in the issues for the UK’s estimated 10 million people aged over 65, many of whom are at risk of digital exclusion.

Truly transformational change
Concentrating on two areas where there is the potential for digital developments to have powerful and important effects – disadvantaged younger groups and older (often offline) groups – will allow Policy Exchange to advance understanding of the specific issues for these groups in society, contrasting their needs with the general direction of travel, and to make clear recommendations on how best to deliver digital public services with maximum impact.

During the research, the charity will look to identify and communicate lessons for how the Government can use digital channels and ICT to better deliver public services and engage citizens. It will also consider what it will take for leaders in the public sector to deliver this sort of change.

While the majority of those benefiting from the project will be in the UK, it is expected that the lessons learned from the project will be of interest across Europe and the wider world.