An influential parliamentary committee has sharply criticised the government's £1bn e-government programme for lack of co-ordination, poor uptake of services by the public and no criteria to assess cost effectiveness.

The public accounts select committee's report on e-government singled out Stephen Pinder, the government's e-envoy, for particular criticism.

"The office of the e-envoy should be more active in the monitoring and reporting departments' progress in putting services online, their take up by the public, and the quality and use made of departments' websites," says the report.

In addition, the public accounts committee criticised government websites for being out of date. The committee points out that ukonline.gov.uk, the central portal for government services, was promoting the budget as a "hot topic" in June - nearly two months after the event. It also drew attention to the Number 10 website, where the list of cabinet ministers was incorrect.

Of particular concern was the poor uptake by the public of online government services. The report notes that although Customs and Excise had made it possible for VAT tax returns to be submitted online, only 2,500 out of 1.65m traders had made use of the service.

The report's findings concur with other reports released recently, which suggest that, while the government is making progress in reaching its targets of all government services being online by 2005, the public is not using them.

A Booz Allen Hamilton report for the e-envoy indicated that, although the range of UK government services online compares favourably with other advanced countries, the public uptake of those services is lagging behind. The report, published last month, found that only 11% of people in Britain had used an online government service, compared to over 40% in Canada, and 18% in France and Germany

The public accounts committee blames the lack of public usage of government websites on the way those sites are structured.

"More websites need to be designed around specific services that cut across organisational boundaries so that people can access all the information they need," says the committee.

Another study, published by the Interactive Bureau, was also highly critical of government websites' design and usability. The report looked at 20 government websites and found that three quarters of them were "in need of attention" with regard to their design.

The report was especially scathing about the Number 10 website which came 19th out of 20 assessed.

"It scores so badly, because its navigation is inept, because of a lack of attention to detail, because it is poorly maintained ... and because it allows no provision for members of the public to contact either the prime minister or his office," the report says.

The government is belatedly acknowledging that getting all services online is of limited value if the public are simply not using those services.

At the e-summit two weeks ago Tony Blair conceded that British citizens "are not yet using government services online in the numbers that match the best in the world".

The government is sticking to its 2005 target, but the tone appears to be shifting towards ensuring those sites are of benefit to the public.

But the public accounts committee is sceptical: "People are only likely to use online services if they are easier and more cost-effective to use, more accessible and more convenient."