Planning to enrol in higher education? Of all the countries in Europe, Britain is the best place to do it online. But if you educate yourself at public libraries, you may be better off in Denmark: its national online search and request system is the best on the continent. High taxpayers who want an easy life should try moving to Spain, where a single online system handles wealth and income taxes.
These are some of the findings of the European Commission's latest official benchmarking study of the continent's progress towards "e-Europe". The survey, by consultants Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, covers 18 countries - the EU plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Diplomatically, the commission tries not to emphasise national rankings: everyone gets a prize. But this doesn't prevent a little crowing among the winners - and the occasional cry of foul among the users.
The results show wide differences in national priorities for putting services online. For example, web-savvy people investing in bricks and mortar should consider Ireland, where it's possible to apply online for planning permission. It is also a good place to register a car, along with Sweden and France. But if the car gets stolen, you'll wish you were in Spain, Britain, Denmark or Finland, the only countries allowing citizens to file reports to the police online.
If you're planning to emigrate, Britain's the best place in Europe to apply electronically for a passport.
If in Luxembourg, you may as well give up. The country's public services are still in the paper age, although, like every other EU country apart from the Netherlands, it is possible to file your VAT form electronically.
This year's survey, the fourth, measured two things: the sophistication with which countries run 20 basic public services online, and the percentage of fully transactional public services available online. Transactional services are the gold standard of e-government - the services involving a two-way transfer of information, such as applying for a social security benefit online.
Top scorer for sophistication was Sweden (with 87%) followed closely by Denmark and Ireland with 86%. The UK was halfway down the table at eighth place with 71%, just behind France. The bottom three were Greece, Germany and Luxembourg.
In the second league table, the number of transactional services available online, the UK did slightly better, scoring sixth place with 50%. (The office of the e-envoy reckons two-thirds of government services are available online, but this includes one-way services that only publish information on the web.) Here, the top three were Denmark (72%), Austria (68%) and Sweden (67%). Luxembourg again trailed, (15%).
Overall, rates of progress slowed in 2003. This may be understandable as governments reach e-maturity: everyone leaves the most difficult services to last. However, the rate of progress varied greatly among countries: Austria, a poor performer in 2002, piled on both sophistication and availability, while the UK more than doubled availability between 2002 and 2003. On the other hand, Spain's progress was static in that year; Greece's almost so.
Service sophistication sometimes went backwards. In 2002, the UK scored 100% for reporting changes of address. In 2003, that had slipped to 30%, presumably because of the "Shepway problem" - the legal opinion that systems sharing change-of-address data were not lawful. The UK's sophistication of public procurement also apparently halved between 2001 and 2003.
Across Europe, services for business are more sophisticated and widely available than those aimed at citizens. Most developed are those concerned with collecting money. Income generation on average scores 92% for sophistication. The best performing service is VAT declaration, with a sophistication score of 97%.
However, online registration is lower: 25% availability for birth or marriage certificates or announcement of moving.
Health-related services do poorly: no country has all health services fully online, defined by the ability to book a hospital appointment through a publicly accessible website.
Surprisingly, applying online for a permit or a licence is still a struggle. Applying for personal documents and building permission are hardly available; enrolment in higher education scores only 35% for availability.
One weakness of the survey is that it covers only internet access: channels such as interactive digital TV don't get a look-in. Another is that some services are not relevant in some countries: in Britain, NHS patients book hospital appointments through a GP, so the direct booking indicator isn't relevant. Greece, Ireland and Portugal don't require citizens to tell local authorities when they move.
But as Britain was one of only two countries to score 100% sophistication for social security benefits and the only one to score 100% for "personal documents", the office of the e-envoy won't grumble too much.
