Public services are getting stronger and are constantly becoming more user-friendly, according to a member of the government.

Cabinet office minister Tom Watson made his comments at the Public Technology E-Government Awards in London recently.

He said that more and more people were looking to use the internet as a medium to carry out tasks such as banking, adding that as a result, they have every right to expect public services in a similar vein.

Mr Watson continued: "The government is committed to making our public services stronger, more efficient and more accessible than ever before and we can only achieve this by making the most of the opportunities that the digital age opens up."

The awards ceremony, he noted, showed there was still plenty of work to be done but that innovation was happening in the sector every day.

Working with the Treasury, the Cabinet Office supports the prime minister and government in its quest to deliver objectives to all departments and civil servants.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.