New Zealand to launch predictive services for new parents

The New Zealand Government is about to launch its first predictive service, it was announced at a meeting of “leading digital governments”, the D5.

“We know there are key times in people’s lives when they need to interact with government, including when a child is born or at retirement; and so we are focusing on how we can best deliver government services around life events,” said Peter Dunne, New Zealand’s Minister of Internal Affairs.

The service, called SmartStart, will give new and expectant parents updates relevant to them for their newborn children. It will give each parent personalised information from government agencies and early childhood services in an “easy-to-understand timeline”.

Estonia announced last year at the D5 conference that it is building its own predictive service for newborn children and the elderly. The D5 is a group of digital governments, comprising Estonia, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

Ministers from the five countries met on 10 and 11 November (pictured below) in South Korea to discuss how to set up leading digital government models, attract talent, secure trust in digital services and personalise services.

The governments signed the “Busan Communique” which proposes the vision and future of digital government. The agreement also contains measures to expand the D5 and accept new governments into the group.

India is said to be the latest to express interest in joining the network, according to Government Computing. In the past, the United States has been declined membership, GovInsider understands.

The D5 governments also agreed to improve exchanges with the private sector and academia, and create publications to share case studies and successes with non-member countries.

“The importance of personal information and cyber ethics is becoming greater as we're living in an era of industry 4.0 and rapid technological change brought about by high-tech IT, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and big data,” said South Korea’s Interior Minister, Hong Yun-sik.

“Through the Busan Communique, I believe that in the future the D5 will become the authoritative international gathering in the e-government sector,” he added.

The UK’s Cabinet Minister Chris Skidmore spoke on the challenge of recruiting tech skills to the government. “Essentially, we must build our capability, to make government the destination of choice for digital data and technology professionals,” he said.

He also announced that sales on UK’s Digital Marketplace - a platform for government to buy from small and medium businesses - have crossed £1.5 billion.

UK has shared its code with Australia, which has now launched a public beta of its own digital marketplace.

Top image by U.S. Navy - Public Domain D5 photo by the Ministry of the Interior, South Korea