Government Use of Information and Communication Technology: 2006

Government Use of Information and Communication Technology Survey

The Government Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Survey provides reliable information about the present state of government ICT use, emerging technology uptake, and factors that hamper ICT use by government organisations. It also provides a picture of how new ICT is changing the way that government organisations carry out their roles.

The Government Use of ICT Survey: 2006 is the first survey of this type in New Zealand. It constructs a core set of official and comprehensive statistics and provides data against which future ICT developments can be compared. The survey results are published at aggregate level as well as by type of government organisation. For more information on the government organisations included in the survey, refer to the Technical notes of this release.

More information on government use of ICT will be published in a detailed report on ICT in New Zealand in late 2007.

Use of computers and the Internet

Results from the Government Use of ICT Survey: 2006 show that 99 percent of government organisations were using computers and the Internet, at August 2006. On average, 93 percent of staff had access to the Internet at work.

Thirty-seven percent of all government organisations used dial-up technology to access the Internet, while 97 percent had broadband connections. Digital subscriber line (DSL) was the most common Internet connection type for all government organisations (69 percent). It was followed by cable (55 percent), cellular (52 percent), wireless (36 percent), and satellite (4 percent).

 

Use of network technology

Local area network (LAN) was the most widely used network technology across all government organisations, with 93 percent. The next most common network technology was Intranet (75 percent of users) and virtual private network (VPN) (68 percent). Only 4 percent of government organisations used the advanced network (also known as Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network or KAREN).

Use of other ICT

Ninety-six percent of government organisations used cellular phones at August 2006. Almost one-third of all organisations had voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and only 6 percent used radio frequency identification (RFID). RFID is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders.

Data exchange

The Internet was the most common technology that government organisations used to engage in regular data exchange (64 percent of organisations). Attachment to an email was next (61 percent), followed by CD or DVD, with 50 percent of organisations. Magnetic tapes were used for data exchange by only 5 percent of government organisations.

ICT security

Concerning ICT security, the 2006 Government Use of ICT survey shows that 99 percent of organisations used filtering and network protection, 92 percent operated with authentication technology and 50 percent applied cryptography security measures. Only 49 percent of organisations used all specific internal ICT security measures. 

Website presence

Ninety-seven percent of all government organisations had a website at August 2006. All central government, crown research institutes (CRIs) and tertiary education institutions had static information posted on their website; 96 percent of local government and 90 percent of other government organisations had the same feature.

Fifty-six percent of all government organisations' websites contained interactive information (eg, online forms), 28 percent had dynamic information (eg, webcams) and 26 percent offered online transactional services. Tertiary education websites were the most likely to use these features: 91 percent had interactive information, 55 percent had dynamic information and 64 percent offered online transactional services.

The tertiary education sector also had the highest proportion of other website features: 73 percent allowed access with low-speed Internet connection and 45 percent had content in both English and Māori.

ICT training

Eighty percent of all government organisations indicated they offered ICT induction training for new staff in the August 2006 year. Seventy-five percent of all government organisations gave training in the use of new technologies or applications, 66 percent provided ICT training to up-skill general staff, and 61 percent gave technical training to ICT staff.

While 15 percent of 'other' government organisations did not offer any ICT training, only 8 percent of all government organisations indicated the same.

Expenditure on ICT

Total operating expenditure on ICT across all government organisations was $1.1 billion in the last financial year, at August 2006. Central government accounted for 70.3 percent ($775 million) of all ICT operating expenditure. Tertiary education accounted for 15.7 percent ($174 million) and local government spent 11.7 percent ($129 million) of total operating expenditure.

Total capital expenditure on ICT by all government organisations was $630 million. Of this total, 79.9 percent was attributed to central government, 9.5 percent to tertiary education, 8.9 percent to local government, and the remaining 1.8 percent to CRIs and other government organisations.

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Government Expenditure on Information and Communication Technology
By organisation type
Last financial year at August 2006

Note: Due to rounding, some figures may not add to stated total.

Plans for ICT investment

The 2006 Government Use of ICT Survey shows that 90 percent of all government organisations were planning to make capital investment in ICT in the next 12 months. The top three areas for investment were new or upgraded software, desktop hardware, and ICT infrastructure, with 77 percent each.

Intended benefits from ICT investment in the next 12 months were to improve: the efficiency of workflow, business activities and processes (77 percent), business continuity and security (74 percent), and quality of services (69 percent).

Barriers to the implementation of new ICT

Forty percent of all government organisations reported that competing priorities highly restricted the implementation of new ICT, at August 2006. Budget constraints (26 percent of organisations), and the availability of qualified ICT personnel (13 percent) were rated as being highly restrictive to the implementation of new ICT. Thirty-three percent of all government organisations recorded that implementation of new ICT was not restricted when commercially available ICT products did not meet needs.

For technical information contact:
Guannan Miao
Wellington 04 931 4600
Email: info@stats.govt.nz