Every citizen to have personal webpage

Everyone in the country is to be given a personalised webpage for accessing Government services within a year as part of a plan to save billions of pounds, Gordon Brown is to announce.

The Prime Minister has previously hailed the potential for the internet to slash costs by reducing paper forms, face-to-face contact with officials, postage, phone calls and building costs. He is now set to use a speech on Monday to unveil plans to give every voter a unique identifier allowing them to apply for school places, book GP appointments, claim benefits, get a new passport, pay council tax or register a car.

Within another three years, the secure site would include an interactive service allowing people to ask medical advice of their doctor or consult their children's teachers.

The move could see the closure of job centres and offices dealing with tax, vehicle licensing, passports and housing benefit within 10 years as services are offered through a single digital ''gateway''.

But the proposals came under fire from union leaders who complained that thousands of public sector workers would be made jobless and pointed to the Government's poor record of handling personal data. Questions have also been raised about the impact on some older people unable to use the internet.

Among the Prime Minister's advisers on the drive to put services online is World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee. ''I don't want to go to a government office. It should all be online. That saves time for people and it saves money for the Government - the processing of a piece of paper and mailing it back costs many times more than it costs to process something electronically,'' he told the newspaper.

Question 1 (2 points)

Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.
a) People will need a different username and password for each online service.
b) This is the first time that the Prime Minister has talked about the benefits of
online bureaucracy.
c) With the new service, it will be possible to arrange to see a doctor.
d) Some senior citizens might have problems using this service.

Question 2 (2 points)

Answer the following questions in your own words.
a) What will users of the online government service be able to do in 3 years’
time?
b) What complaints have trade union leaders made?

Question 3 (1.5 points)

Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a) to announce, reveal (Paragraph 2)
b unemployed (Paragraph 5)
c) history (Paragraph 5)

Question 4 (1.5 points)

Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.
a) Processing paper documents is much more expensive than processing documents electronically.
Processing documents electronically is far …………
b) The changes in the way official documents are handled could see the closure of job centres and offices.
Job centres and offices may close ….
c) The plan could save the government billions of pounds.
If the plan goes ahead, billions ………..

Question 5(3 points)
Write a short essay (120 to 150 words) on the following topic:
• Does the Internet make everybody’s life easier?