Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

Lesson learned and outlook
A partnership approach and broad participation in permanent assessment seem to be major
elements of this success story. Continuation and expansion of the scheme are expected.
Case No. 12: United Kingdom - The Surrey County Council
Policy environment
The use of information technologies in general as well as teleworking is quite widespread in the
UK. According to the TELDET study, 4.54% of the workforce were teleworking in 1994. More
than a half million of teleworkers have been identified. This high degree of teleworking can be
attributed to following encouraging factors:
l
telework has been an important issue on the political agenda for more than 15 years;
l
competitive telecommunications environment (deregulation began in 1984);
l
two major telecom operators (British Telecom and Cable & Wireless) have started
teleworking programmes both for their own workforce and for customers;
l
liberal employment regulations and co-operative trade unions.
Parallel to several studies commissioned by the Department of Transport, Department of
Employment and Department of Trade and Industry into various aspects of teleworking, local and
regional agencies have implemented a number of telework projects under EU initiatives. Britain’s
network of telecottages and telecentres was developed in the early 1990s. The TCA (the Telework,
Telecottage & Telecentre Association) is the most developed telework association in Europe. It is
a non-profit body with elected directors. It produces a bi-monthly magazine and recently
published a comprehensive telework handbook. 
The City of Sunderland Partnership can be seen as a representative example of the development
of an entire telematic strategy including some core themes. The partnership must bring new
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