8 September 2005

The positioning of eGovernment kiosks in citizen advice bureaux has encouraged more people to access the Internet, according to eGov Monitor.

The three-month trial run of the online information kiosks has shown that almost 40 per cent of the people using them had previously only used the Internet once or twice at the most. Yet one in four visitors found they could solve their problems online and did not need to speak to an advisor.

Malcolm Taylor, eGovernment manager for citizens advice told eGov monitor:

"We have had some impressive results. I am now running a project looking at locating the kiosks in other premises, such as prisons, hospitals and courts."

Government web pages about tax credits and benefits were the most visited sites on the touch screen kiosks. Citizen advice bureaux usually rely on over 20,000 volunteers to deal with such enquiries and they help resolve around 5.6 million problems every year.

© Adfero Ltd

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