Arrangements for quickening progress towards e-government are to be sharpened with the appointment of a Delivery Board in each local council. The Boards will be sponsored by the corporate management group and chaired by a full time programme manager reporting directly to the Chief Executive or Council Leader. The Board’s role will be to ensure that progress is made across the council in all service and activity areas. Funding for the new programmme manager post will come from the existing e-government grant made by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.The Boards will work alongside Member and officer e-champions who will continue to promote, encourage, challenge and drive. The e-champions will carry on the pursuit of customer focused e-delivery and engage with partners at the local and national level to improve joined up delivery. e-champions will also be responsible for developing an e-delivery plan with the Local Strategic Partnership members to ensure further joint delivery with other public and voluntary agencies including the police, health, probation, Citizens Advice Bureau and Help the Aged.

Councils have also been asked by the ODPM to identify a customer services manager who will galvanise organisational and process change around the customer. The managers will represent the customer view and the quality and performance of access and service to meet needs and expectations. She or he will be responsible for establishing new networks at regional level and developing contact centres, one stop shops and customer relations management systems.