Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 30 November 2010.
The Government have set out a clear ambition that digital will increasingly be the primary channel for delivery of public information and transactional services. This is part of our overall plan to inject more choice, control and personalisation into public services.
Our aim is for Government services to be digital by default, making online the preferred channel for Government services. This marks a decisive move away from a neutral 'multi-channel' approach to one where we actively encourage people to switch to digital channels and put compelling incentives in place to support this, with digital technology driving better services and lower costs.
However, no one will be excluded from services because they cannot use or access the internet. Assisted digital support will be provided so that, although there is a strong expectation that those that are able to will use digital channels, those who cannot will always be able to access services.
A first wave of services have been announced which will move towards digital as their primary channel with timetables established for each service as follows:
On Student Finance for Higher Education in England, there will be an expectation from 2011 that initial applications by students are made online. Paper forms will no longer be printed or available to readily download from Directgov.
For jobseeker's allowance, Jobcentre Plus will introduce a strong expectation that new jobseekers allowance applicants should apply online-with the aim that 80% of claims will be made online by 2013.
For businesses, Companies House plan to mandate digital only filing of the vast majority of filing services including incorporation, accounts and annual returns by 2013, subject to a full impact assessment and the timely passage of the necessary secondary legislation.
HMRC are putting together a package of measures that will make it easier and quicker for businesses to deal with the tax authorities using online services as the norm. For example, from August 2012 the online channel will be the mandatory way to register for VAT, with other channels being closed or consolidated, and from 2013 it will become mandatory for business customers to tell us online when they start their business activity for the purposes of self-assessment and corporation tax.
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No0 people think not
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