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03/06/10 - Denmark should leverage its investments in e-government to harvest broader societal benefits, according to a new OECD report.

'Denmark - Efficient E-Government for Smarter Public Service Delivery' says that Denmark is at the forefront of efforts made by countries around the world to provide and use online services and to boost a more efficient and effective public sector, more responsive to the changing needs of people and business.

Looking ahead, the OECD says that Denmark should:

• Strengthen the “whole of government” approach to e-government: Putting in place a roadmap that involves every government agency and their use of online services to improve performance would help. This would help extend the use of e-government services from improving efficiency of administrative services to other areas, such as health, education and social care. Strengthening the existing cross-governmental governance structure is needed to sustain better co-ordination in some areas, such as public registers. 
  
  
• Boost capacities within the public sector: Denmark could sustain growing demand in project management and design, particularly of large ICT projects, and exploit e-government projects more effectively by strengthening core capacities and skills competencies in the public sector. Improving data standardisation and the use and flow of public sector information within and across levels of government would also help.
  
  
• Strengthen citizens and businesses’ engagement: Carry out a promotion and marketing effort to raise awareness to increase user take-up. Incorporating the views of citizens and businesses in the design and delivery of online services would help improving their effectiveness, quality and responsiveness. 

'The OECD review confirmed that Denmark is one of the front-runners in e-government implementation. And we are delighted that Denmark saw the value of requesting OECD advice on how to improve even further their current excellent performance' said Mr. Rolf Alter, Director of the Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate.

'OECD peer reviews give valuable feedback on how to optimise outcomes from public investment, thanks also to the involvement in the process of experienced policy makers such as Ann Steward – Australian Government Chief Information Officer.'

This review is the first of a new generation of e-government reviews that aim at addressing the new challenges in e-government implementation faced by governments dealing with the endeavor of delivering smarter public services in a context of shrinking resources.

Further information is available on request from:

Ms. Barbara Ubaldi (e-mail: Barbara.ubaldi@oecd.org; direct tel. +33 1 45 24 15 26)

or by visiting the following website: www.oecd.org/gov/egov.