Bracknell

Bracknell Forest Borough Council was able to highlight its role at the cutting edge of e-government at this year's local e-gov EXPO for senior local government decision-makers.

Bracknell Forest is at the forefront of smartcard technology with its pioneering E+ card and also led the National Smartcard project which produced software called SmartConnect.

The Council acquired the rights to sell SmartConnect to other councils to help them set up their own smartcards.

Cllr Paul Bettison, Leader of the Bracknell Council, opened the two-day event which brought together 1300 senior managers and ICT specialists involved in implementing electronic government in UK councils.

The four key themes for this year's EXPO were innovation, transformation, take-up and efficiency together with other cross-cutting initiatives such as procurement, social inclusion and mobile working.

As well as high profile speakers EXPO included workshops and examples of best practice as well as demonstrations from leading e-government service providers.

Bracknell Cllr Bettison said: "E-government is about improving access to council services and making a difference to how people interact with their council.

"It's also about doing it in the most efficient way possible and councils are taking big strides forward all the time.

"EXPO is the biggest e-government event in the UK and it gave us all a chance to share ideas and best practice to improve the delivery of council services by electronic means.

"With our E+ card and our leading role in the national projects, Bracknell Forest has a great story to tell and I took the opportunity to share our successes with colleagues in other authorities."

The local Bracknell e-gov partnership between local authorities and the government has been running for five years. During this time councils have improved how they interact electronically with stakeholders.

The partnership estimates some 97% of English councils are now e-enabled and have already delivered efficiency savings of approximately £1.9 billion through improved use of electronic government.

This year's EXPO was held on April 5 and 6 at the ExCel exhibition centre in Docklands, London. It ended with a celebration dinner at the famous Painted hall in the Royal Navy Dockyards, Greenwich.

For more information about the local e-gov partnership and national projects visit www.localegovnp.org.uk

Bracknell Forest Borough Council