The National Audit Office (NAO) has today published a report on information exchange in benefits delivery: Department for Work and Pensions: Communicating with Customers, produced by a joint OII-LSE research team led by Professors Helen Margetts (OII) and Patrick Dunleavy (LSE).
The report found that while the Department has significantly changed the way in which it provides information in recent years, with a growth in the use of telephone and the Internet, there is still progress to be made in moving services online.
Professor Helen Margetts said: “The Department could do more to capitalise on the potential of the Internet. It is not yet possible to apply for most benefits on-line and only 0.2 per cent of all citizen contacts are made electronically, even though 38 per cent of DWP customers are enthusiastic about online services. Benefits-related information is now provided via the Directgov website, but users taking part in experiments run at the Oxford Internet Institute found information in some areas difficult to find.”
Professor of Society and the Internet
Helen Margetts is Professor of Society and the Internet, a political scientist specialising in digital government and politics. She was Director of the OII from 2011-18. She is a Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College.
London School of Economics
Patrick Dunleavy is Emeritus Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at LSE. He is a (founding) fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a Fellow of the British Academy.