E-Government

E-government is a digital interaction between government and citizen.

Examples of this are:

• Taxes- Inland Revenue and car tax
• Voting
• Petitions
• Pensions- Apply for a pension forecast
• Contact your MP
• NHS
• Party Policies
• Electronic Application Services
• UCAS
• Driving applications
• Online Statistics
• Police
• Environment
• Schools

The main e-government website in the UK is Directgov.  It covers everything above and more, including help for young people, crime, motoring, children, employment and many more.

NHS Choices

The NHS stands for National Health Service and it is run by the government.  The NHS have a website called NHS Choices and it has lots of information about where to find NHS services, how to live healthily and information on conditions and symptoms and what you can do about them.

Advantages of NHS Choices

It is run by the government, so it will always be there for when people have problems with their health.

It is useful for someone that cant go to a doctor or just needs information about something minor because they can just go onto this website and find out everything they need to know and can get further information whether they need to go to the doctor or not.

It has useful information for people that are not ill.  If someone just wants to know how to keep healthy then they can have a look on the website and get loads of information.

There are updates on the news of medical science for people to read and stay up to date with new treatments and new breakthroughs on medicines and cures.

Disadvantages of NHS Choices

People could use this as a substitute doctor and could wrongly diagnose themselves when they could be seriously ill.

The website can’t be as accurate as going to a hospital or seeing your GP.

In my opinion, this kind of E-government is quite good because I can see it being very useful for the people that need it.  It is useful for people that might be curious about something because it is quick and convenient to use with lots of information.

Motoring

Advantages of Motoring

You can apply for a driving licence online.  This would be quick and would have lots of information about what you have to do.

It has lots of information about driving and the Highway Code.

Information about vehicle crime and lots of other legal car information.

Disadvantages of Motoring

If you lose your driving licence or it gets stolen you will have to apply again online and wait for another one.

In my opinion, a motoring section online is a helpful part of e-government.  This is because young people will not know much about what to do to get driving and what to do when they are on the road.

Voting

Advantages of Voting

There is lots of information that tells you how to vote.  This is good for people that are new to voting.

You can register to vote online.  This is good because it is convenient and easy.

It shows local government elections.  This is good because you can see what will happen in your local area if you decide to vote for a specific party.

Disadvantages of Voting

You can not vote in local government elections if you are a British citizen living abroad and registered as an overseas voter.

You can’t actually vote online, just register to vote and go to a polling station or by a letter in the post.

In my opinion, registering online is a good idea and giving lots of information to people about the elections is useful but it would be better if you would be able to vote online instead of going to the polling station or posting it.