In its annual e-government report of 13 December 2004, the Cabinet Office announced that 96% of government services will be available electronically by the end of 2005. “These results show that departments have responded well to the breadth of the online delivery challenge,” said Ian Watmore, head of the e-government unit.

However, the report glosses over the fact that the target of 100% e-government by the end of 2005, set by the Prime Minister, has been missed. This may not be a bad thing, as the goal was somewhat unrealistic and unnecessary - for certain obscure procedures, such as permission to be buried at sea, the costs associated with e-enabling would be disproportionate to the minimal gains.

The report describes the outlook for e-government as “positive”, stating that the new government portal, Directgov, is now receiving 600,000 unique hits a month - undoubtedly a substantial improvement on previous uptake. However, this hit count is significantly less than, for example, many online news portals, suggesting that there is considerable room for improvement.