report on the law conference: ‘icts, social inclusion and ... d4.5 conference report.pdf · ·...

Report on the LAW Conference:

‘ICTs, Social Inclusion and Welfare in Europe: showcasing good practice’

Acts and Recommendations

Helmut Apel, Pierre Concialdi, Simone Dahlmann, Dietrich Engels, Giulio Giannetti, Solveig Grimault, Michael Haile, Ursula Huws, Antonio Lettieri, Matilde

Raspini, Zofia Rutkowska, Gertruda Uscinska and Marco Zanotelli

Project title: Labour Market Changes and Welfare Perspectives in Europe

Project acronym: LAW

Deliverable: D4.5

Contract no.: IST-2001-33356 (under the 5th Framework Programme)

Date of Delivery: 16 November 2005

ABSTRACT This report has been produced by the restructured Labour Market Changes and Welfare Perspectives In Europe (LAW) project which aims to examine the scope of labour market restructuring in the development of a European Information Society and the challenges this poses to European welfare systems. It summarises the proceedings of the concluding conference of the project. Entitled, ICTs, Social Inclusion and Welfare in Europe: Showcasing Good Practice, this conference was held at the Centro Congressi Cavour in Rome on November 4-5, 2005. The aims of the conference included: · dissemination of research findings from the LAW project · Showcasing innovative good practice solutions from across the EU · Taking the policy debate forward The conference was well attended with some presentations reported the results of the project’s research and summarising developments in the restructuring of labour markets and welfare systems in the transition to a European knowledge society, whilst others highlighted good practice examples in the fields of eLearning, eGovernment and combating the digital divide in European Member States. It concluded with a round table discussion involving a range of stakeholders. This report provides a summary of all the presentations and subsequent discussion with the audience. It also presents the key issues and policy recommendation emerging from these discussions. Appendices to the report list the attendees and reproduce the PowerPoint presentations made at the conference.

CONTENTS 1. Session 1: Labour markets and welfare systems in a European knowledge –based society.........1

1.1 Welcome .........................................................................................................1 1.2 Key results from the LAW project ...........................................................................2 1.3 ICT and labour larket changes: groups at risk.............................................................5 1.4 Restructuring of welfare systems – the implications for social equality .............................6 1.5 Discussion........................................................................................................7

2. Session 2: ICT skills and lifelong learning - eInclusion in the labour market..........................8 2.1 Results from the project ......................................................................................8 2.2 The Digital Opportunities project ...........................................................................9 2.3 Discussion........................................................................................................9

3. Session 3: eGovernment, welfare policies and social inclusion ....................................... 10 3.1 Results from the LAW project ......................................................................... 10 3.2 The CeLINE Project – Sickness Certificates Online ..................................................... 11 3.3 The CEDRE Project ........................................................................................... 12 3.4 the eBenefit Project ......................................................................................... 13 3.5 Discussion...................................................................................................... 14

4. Session 4: Welfare, quality of life and the digital divide in new EU member states .............. 15 4.1 Results from the LAW project.............................................................................. 15 4.2 ICT, social capital and quality of life: the European situation....................................... 16 4.3 An overview of eGovernment in the UK .................................................................. 16 4.4 Discussion...................................................................................................... 17

5. Session 5: round table discussion ........................................................................... 18 5.1 A synthesis of concepts and practices: opportunities and risks in the information society..... 18 5.2 Discussion...................................................................................................... 19

6. conclusions...................................................................................................... 20 appendix a1: conference agenda ................................................................................. 21 Appendix A2: cvs of speakers...................................................................................... 23

Speakers ............................................................................................................ 23 Panellists: .......................................................................................................... 27

Appendix A.3 - List of participants .............................................................................. 30 LAW Partners ...................................................................................................... 30 Speakers and Panellists .......................................................................................... 30 Participants ........................................................................................................ 30 Conference observer ............................................................................................. 32

LAW Conference report – Social Inclusion and Welfare Perspectives in Europe, Rome, November 2005 1 -

1. SESSION 1: LABOUR MARKETS AND WELFARE SYSTEMS IN A EUROPEAN KNOWLEDGE –BASED

SOCIETY

1.1 Welcome The conference was opened by Antonio Lettieri, President of Centro Internazionale di Studi Sociali (CISS). His welcome speech introduced the objectives of the LAW project, describing the project’s goals as analysing the impact of the information technologies on the labour markets, the new norms of flexibility, and the problems deriving from the different degree of development of the information economy in each marketplace. Despite what is generally believed, globalisation is not a new phenomenon, since it has been a historic direction of capitalism. The main novelty consists in the mix of the opening of markets and the IT revolution. All this has brought a new model of production and labour organisation. The ongoing process towards the globalisation of the labour market pushes transnational enterprises to dislocate growing portions of production towards countries which offer a more competitive labour market: that is high flexibility, weak or inexistent social protection, lower wages, weak or absent trade union movement and collective agreements. As we know, globalisation affects highly developed countries too, the United States as much as Europe. But the LAW research demonstrates that it is not a fatal outcome, and that, meanwhile globalisation is a common challenge, and there are different ways to tackle it. Within the world of information society, indeed, flexibility shows two faces. On one side, it can be a source of greater autonomy, creativity and the enrichment of skills; on the other end, it can be a source of unemployment and precariousness for those, in which in the project, we have defined as ‘groups at risk’. 2. In the current European debate, the conventional wisdom is that, to be able to face the challenge of globalisation, it is necessary to carry out ‘structural reforms’, based on growing liberalisation of the labour market and the reduction of welfare expenditure and protection. The comparative analysis of our project shows, in my opinion, that this is a one sided view and ideologically predetermined. The research, in fact, demonstrates, that there are countries, which have achieved a high standard of competitiveness within the global markets, and in parallel maintaining a high level of labour protection, along with an elevated social expenditure. These countries, of which Sweden is a prime example, demonstrate that the Information Society, when accompanied by adequate political measures, can offer a framework of economic development and social well being, such as high levels of employment and a work organisation that eases the relationship between working and family life, allowing a strong presence of women in the labour market. 3. The research also shows that in those countries which suffer high unemployment, such as France, Germany and Italy, the main problem does not consist in the lack of labour flexibility (the level of the so called atypical jobs does not substantially differ from the European average), but on the insufficient economic growth, and in some cases, in deep regional disparities (as it is evident in the German and Italian cases). More innovative, and also more complex, is the analysis of the relationship between the new forms of labour markets and the welfare state. In short, the traditional provisions of welfare are now inadequate to guarantee an acceptable protection against the risks deriving from changes of the labour markets; resources are inadequate to take full


account of the discontinuity of work, and the consequences that arise from this with regard to continuity of income, paid leave (particularly for working women), sick pay, pensions, and other benefits. Traditionally welfare systems were organised on the basis of a very different work organisation. What were once considered to be atypical forms of work are increasingly becoming ‘typical’ creating new norms of working relationships in the labour market which may have some negative side-effects. For some workers within the information economy the balance between opportunities and risks is favourable: they are ‘winners’. For other groups, flexibility may be a source of precariousness and insecurity. For these, the lack of a renewed and adequate welfare system is a source of a deep social unease. We really have to consider not only the digital divide among countries, within each country and among different social strata, but also a social divide, which is the consequence, among other causes, of an inadequate welfare system. The analysis of these aspects has a practical aim: to enrich the understanding of the processes and find possible means of social and political solutions, in order to renew and safeguard what we consider the European social model.

1.2 Key results from the LAW project Professor Ursula Huws, Director of Analytica Social and Economic Research and scientific co-ordinator of the LAW project, presented key results from the project. Her presentation highlighted the LAW project’s ambitious research questions. The first of these is: ‘what is the relationship between the introduction of ICTS and restructuring of labour markets and welfare systems?’. This is an important question to pose as there is little clear empirical evidence of the nature of relationship between these two topics. The second question relates to ‘which social groups are at risk and which groups benefit from the restructuring of organisations and labour markets?’. Thirdly, the LAW project asked ‘what are the implications of this for welfare systems in Europe?’ Finally, the project asked the questions: ‘what are the policy solutions? & How can ICTs contribute creatively to these?’. These questions should be viewed as framing questions guiding the LAW research. In doing so, they bring together three very disparate policy areas: - Information Society policies - Labour Market policies - Welfare Market policies These policy areas are addressed very differently across the EU and traditionally, researchers within these areas do not necessarily overlap Whilst labour market policy and information society policy are developed at a European level, welfare policy is primarily developed at a national level. Furthermore, whilst both labour market and welfare policies have strong institutional structures at national levels, information society policy is normally viewed as cross-cutting a number of policy areas, with no clear institutional embeddedness. Apart from these institutional differences, there are further differences involved in bringing together these different research areas, including enormous national differences in the structures of labour markets and welfare systems, and major differences in the disciplinary and theoretical perspectives of researchers in each of these three research domains. The challenge for LAW was therefore to bring together three different world views in order to identify their mutual interactions. This is of course a vast task, beyond the scope of any


single project; the LAW project did not expect to find definitive answers to all these questions: its function was rather to open up a dialogue between the three different constituencies in order to identify the key challenges and some possible solutions. One major methodological challenge is created by the difficulty of combining the different data sets used for measuring welfare systems and labour markets: a major inconsistency in the data is created by the fact that most welfare systems’ data are based on the household as a unit whilst in labour market research the individual is the normal unit of analysis. With respect to the welfare policy context, it is necessary to emphasise that the EU has no legal competence in this area; however there is evidence of strong awareness at the EU level of the challenges faced by national welfare systems and attempts have been made to seek increased convergence and interoperability between different welfare models. This must be set against a background of a demographic emergency and crisis of pension systems in each country and sustainable solutions, which is reflected in fierce debates at a national level, although up to now no agreed Europe-wide solution has been found. Amongst experts there also appears to be a generally agreed consensus that there is a need for increased transferability of benefits in order to facilitate the mobility of labour and hence the efficient functioning of European labour markets in the knowledge based economy. It has to be recognised that, despite many national differences, most EU welfare models are based on a now outdated model of work and society: a post-war model that is rooted in a series of assumptions: the nuclear family as the standard family model, supported by a male breadwinner, earning a ‘family wage’, with a permanent, full-time ‘job for life’. In this model, unemployment was seen as something temporary and transitional against which adequate protection could be provided, on the same basis as protection in the event of industrial injury or sickness, within an insurance model. Needless to say, all of these features have been brought into question in modern labour markets. Some difficult questions have to be addressed: How can national models survive in a context of globalisation? How can societies deal with a pool of permanently unemployed people? How can flexible workers be provided with social protection? Turning to Information Society policies, we find a key message being sent to businesses that they should ‘modernise or die’. There is also an extensive public discourse on the development of an information society embodying a series of commonly agreed assumptions: that an information society involves a shift from manufacturing to service industries and a shift from manual to non-manual occupations. It is also generally agreed that a knowledge- based economy is one in which skills need to change, individuals have to be prepared to learn new things throughout their working lives and adjust to dynamically changing employment conditions. There is a general consensus across all Member States that there is a need for investment infrastructure and a need to spread digital literacy Turning to the area of labour market policies, we find that this is an arena where the EU has clear policies, summed up in the Lisbon targets of ‘more & better jobs’. There remain, however, some contradictions between these dimensions. The need to increase competitiveness in rapidly-changing global markets, remove labour market rigidities and enable cross-border flows of work may in some cases create new risks to the quality of employment, even if they fulfil quantitative goals. The first deliverable from the second phase of the LAW project examined a number of hypotheses about the restructuring of labour markets in the transition to a knowledge-based economy by examining the evidence from five member states: France, Italy, Germany, Poland and the UK. It found support for some, but not all of these hypotheses.


It found confirmation that there had indeed been a major shift in employment from manufacturing to service industries in each country. However in some countries there was some evidence that this trend had bottomed out, suggesting that some of its features are transitional ones, demonstrating a shift from one type of manufacturing base to another, rather than a terminal decline of all manufacturing. Furthermore, there was evidence that some of the growth in service employment apparent in the statistics represented not so much new service employment as a trend towards outsourcing service functions from other sectors. It was also found that there had, as predicted, been a growth in the relocation of employment facilitated by ICTs. However in most countries this had only taken the predicted form of home-based teleworking in a minority of cases. Most of the relocation of work resulted from the outsourcing of work or the relocation of whole functions to remote back offices, generally within the same national labour market but sometimes, and increasingly, to other countries, in the phenomenon which has become known as ‘global sourcing’. Measured in terms of employment contracts (external forms of flexibility or ‘employment flexibility’) there has been a considerable flexibilisation of employment This has taken different forms in different member states (one size does NOT fit all) The workers most affected by flexibilisation are not ICT workers but, on the contrary, unskilled manual workers. This demonstrates that the relationship between investment in ICTs and labour market flexibilisation is complex. The problem is not so much that the introduction of ICTs introduces flexible working patterns that directly affect ICT workers; rather the issue is one of a ‘digital divide’ with non-ICT workers most likely to be at risk of precariousness in the restructuring process. Turning to the groups at risk, the LAW research found that proportions vary between countries but some general patterns or risk emerge, with particular concentrations among: older workers; workers displaced from production industries; women, especially women returners, single parents and carers; immigrants and ethnic minorities; those with low education levels; the young (especially in some regions, such as Southern Italy); and people with disabilities. What are the implications of these developments for welfare systems? An ageing population puts new burdens on pension systems in each country and pay-as-you-go systems are no longer seen as affordable. A growing proportion of the population is in ‘flexible’ or atypical employment where discontinuities make it impossible to accumulate enough for full benefit entitlement In most countries there remains an intractable pool of long-term unemployed who lack the skills for participation in the information economy. There are also escalating demands on health services (partly due to demographic trends) Faced with these challenges, the Member States under study have developed a range of policies at a national level. These vary from country to country but some common threads emerge which can be summarised as follows:

Encouraging the upgrading of skills in the existing workforce to maintain employability

Providing skills to the unemployed and economically inactive to enhance employability

Improving the efficiency of job matching mechanisms

Encouraging flexibility in the labour market including responsiveness to change on supply and demand sides

Developing strategies to reduce the costs of delivering benefits

Improving the efficiency of administration of welfare systems


Improving public access to information about benefits

Creating more responsive and customer-sensitive services

Skills and eLearning (life-long learning strategies)

The development of eGovernment strategies was typically found to follow a three-stage process. The first stage involved digitisation and the elimination of paper-based forms; the second involved joining up departments and services and pooling information, whilst the third, and most radical in terms of its impact on the customer experience, involved reorganisation of the entire service around user needs. In the next sessions of the conference, more results from the project’s research would be presented on eLearning, eGovernment and addressing the Digital Divide.

1.3 ICT and labour market changes: groups at risk Professor Paolo Pascucci from the University of Siena presented the point of view of legal experts working in the field of labour law and new emerging models of labour. Two main aspects have in the past drawn labour lawyers attention. On one side, the impact of ICT on the individual’s labour relationships: meaning the impact of growing diffusion of ICT in regards to the productive and work organization. In other words, the effects of new technologies have on the modalities of work and on the adequacy of the worker’s protection. A significant example of this direction is given by studies done on telework, both from the standpoint of the rules related to the individual worker (health, privacy and so on), and at the collective level, such as the impact on the skills and the evaluation of performance. On the other side, the analysis has been focused on the changes that ICT brings about on work organisation models, drawing specific attention to the various processes that enterprises are increasingly implementing through the use of ICT, such as outsourcing and decentralisation of production. This second area of research has brought a wider acknowledgement to the social effects of ICT involvement in work organisation and, consequently its impact on the labour market. Indeed, the phenomenon of fragmentation of the productive chain creates risks from the point of view of the employment levels as well as on the conditions of employees. In short, we can say that the behaviour of experts of labour law has initially been very traditional, mainly cautious, if not coy, with regard to the relationship between ICT and new labour markets. However, more recently a focus has been put on the role that ICT can positively play regarding the management and the functioning of the labour market. That is particularly important in the current phase of globalisation (strictly interrelated with the evolution of ICT), which brings with it heavy impacts on the levels and stability of employment. The consequence is that the digital divide, if not corrected, paves the way to the social divide between a world of properly skilled knowledge workers and a world of unskilled, or poorly skilled, workers who are typical of the old Fordist model. From this point of view, it is crucial, even if it is not always sufficient, to improve the management and functioning of the institutions that deal with the labour market which in real time allow a more efficient matching between demand and supply of jobs, so helping the groups who are at risk of being marginalised and excluded, as often it is the case of women, the young, the long term unemployed, the disabled and immigrants. In parallel, it is interesting to analyse the progress of the implementation of ICT systems into the management of welfare. This is particularly important with regard to the groups of atypical workers who are often unaware of their rights and possibilities in relation to


the welfare schemes, and ICT, as many cases presented by the project show, can play a crucial function in this direction.

1.4 Restructuring of welfare systems – the implications for social equality Dr Markus Promberger, Director of the Research Unit Social Security and Integration at the IAB Institute for Employment Research of the Federal Employment Office, Germany, presented recent changes in the German labour market as an example of a model of restructuring of social security provision This presentation argued that the current German welfare reforms with their ‘activation‘ or ‘welfare to work‘ concepts may at best create higher turnover dynamics among the unemployed and welfare clients, but will not help against unemployment at all if they are not combined with attempts to leave the stage of ‘declining industrialism‘. The new system (HARTZ IV) has been created by merging two former systems (the welfare system and the long-term unemployment benefit system) into one. The new system enforces pushing job seekers into job search activities via ‘activity contracts’ and ‘penalties and help offers’. Statistics show several problems:

long-term unemployment in Germany ranks third highest of all EU-15 countries

nearly every second unemployed German is long-term unemployed (compared with only 20% in the UK and 25% in the Netherlands).

In addition, amongst the long-term unemployed there are far more undereducated, low-skilled workers with industrial background; thus social inequalities from the ‘industrial age‘ and their institutional manifestations block the change towards a knowledge society Current labour market reforms do not encourage a dialogue between all relevant institutions. The present labour market reforms should be accompanied by educational reforms, otherwise there is a reproduction of ‘industrialistic‘ inequalities which either causes exclusive forms of knowledge and service societies with a danger to social integration or inhibits any transitions at all. We can observe several types and dimensions of European economies in transition to a knowledge- and technology-based service society

more social exclusive

more social inclusive

inhibited transition

early stage of transition

advanced stage of transition

Welfare politics, labour market- and educational politics are inseparably connected. If we want to participate in the present socio-economic changes and to keep up or achieve more equality and inclusiveness, we have to take this seriously into account.


1.5 Discussion Unemployment is the focus of a ten-year debate sparked by the onset of globalisation and the increasing use of ICTs. In regards to social protection audience members remarked that cutting down on social protection in Europe in order to make countries more competitive internally is the wrong answer. Countries such as Germany and Italy suffer from similar problems; high unemployment and losing out due to globalisation. At the same time they have problems inherent to their own specific structures and histories such as the German unification and low labour market participation of women in South Italy. That is why policy making has to become more encompassing of different areas and address issues from a more holistic perspective. Comments affirmed that there is a need for both national and European focused policymaking and a need to continuously invest in technologies. Other commenters talked about how ‘ flexibility’ has been interpreted differently by German policy makers. The German system was described as Fordist and resistant to being more open to flexibility. The German system is still too much built around the notion that every worker should posses ‘average skills’ whereas Italy has encouraged the inclusion of the less qualified and less skilled workers in the labour market to fill vacancies. This appears also reflected in the fact that only 10% of Germans are self-employed. Another member of the audience discussed the importance of thinking more about the digital divide which of course hinders the full unfolding of an Information Society and the fact that each European country is different from every other. Hence it is crucial to come up with different solution for each country. For example, the regional disadvantages in Southern Italy. However of course it is also a fact that globalisation is unstoppable and that goals highlighted in the Lisbon agenda, such as life-long learning are still very relevant in 2005. The LAW project’s finding were seen as useful as they can help to identify ways in which the Information Society can offer more opportunities than in the past.


2. SESSION 2: ICT SKILLS AND LIFELONG LEARNING - eINCLUSION IN THE LABOUR

MARKET

2.1 Results from the project Dr Helmut Apel, senior researcher at ISG ( the Institute for Social Research and Politics) in Cologne, presented results from the LAW project’s case studies This presentation began by describing the concept of elearning as a mean to increase eliteracy but not as the sole solution. The report focused on the area of ICT qualification for the unemployed and on initiatives that address lack of digital competence for disadvantaged groups. The underlying research question was ‘How can eLearning have a share in reducing the digital divide?’ . 1. Findings were based on fourteen case studies of elearning initiatives in France, Germany, Italy and the UK and in summary showed that eLearning is the most effective if related to real contents. Evidence shows that IT training persistently consists of ‘plain’, standard computer courses (e.g. courses in the use of standard software packages) but that projects that deal with real existing problems are much more successful. One example of this is combining basic ICT skills with language training for immigrants. 2. Successful eLearning is adapted to regional particularities: IT training must precisely follow the current demand for skills and qualifications and thus requires continuous liaison with regional players such as Chambers of Commerce to monitor the supply and demand of qualifications. In addition, successful elearning initiatives seem to be the ones that are most embedded in regional learning networks. 3. eLearning must incorporate individuals’ experience and avoid generic training solutions. It seems that learners are more encouraged when elearning solutions are linked to their former jobs. 4. a balanced combination of IT-based and classroom training is key to success Hotlines and online tutorials cannot replace face-to-face communication, especially amongst inexperienced learners. In particular eLearning targeting disadvantaged groups require a a high share of personal teaching They conclusion that can be drawn for the case studies evidence are:

Withdrawal from public funding of eLearning initiatives can be observed in most countries which may mean that eLearning is not located at the top of policy agendas in Europe

Large amounts of money are being spent for eEurope action plan and other national IT and eGovernment strategies, but mainly for technical infrastructure – investment in human resources seems often to be lacking

Providing eLearning possibilities is more important than ever

There is a need for a shift in eInclusion policy from ‘access for all’ to ‘skills for all’

If the digital divide remains a political concern, ongoing support of initiatives empowering people to overcome digital divide is paramount


2.2 The Digital Opportunities project Jutta Croll, the Business Manager of the project, presented the work of the Digital Opportunities Project as a pratical case encouraging disadvantaged groups to use the Internet. The project was founded in January 2002 by the University of Bremen and AOL Germany as a follow-up to the Project Digital Opportunities Network at the University of Bremen. It is a Public-Private-Partnership located in Berlin and Bremen under the patronage of the German Federal Ministry of Economic and Labour Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs and also receives support from Accenture and the Hubert Burda Foundation The goal of the Digital Opportunities Foundation is to make people interested in the Internet and to support them with their first steps. It aims to make users aware of the opportunities digital media offer and to make use of them. The foundation is working with Internet beginners and has staff located at public Internet access points. It has a beginner website, designed to be sensitive to the language needs of a range of different ethnic groups. There is also a more advanced site with emphasis on content that matters, access to digital literature and technical equipment, The project ascribes critical importance to digital literacy which it defines as the ability to find useful information, to assess the truth and relevance of information and to use information for the improvement of your daily life. Among several programmes run by the project is the ‘Surfing to job programme’. The aim of this programme is to improve the search for employment and the placement of people into jobs. A distinctive feature of this project is the focus of its training which is not on job searchers themselves but on social workers, who are regarded as trusted intermediaries. Several one-day training programmes have been arranged in regions of Germany with high levels of unemployment and social exclusion, to enable social workers to carry out online searches for employment with and for their clients. This scheme has been evaluated very positively. Online Searching has been demonstrated to be faster, to improve the matching between the applicant and the vacancy and to reduce costs both for applicants and enterprises. Once job applicants have been familiarised with the procedures, some can move on to use online job search mechanisms independently of their social worker intermediaries.

2.3 Discussion These presentations provoked a range of questions and comments from the audience. One speaker spoke about the importance of eLearning for highly dispersed workers such as the police and the fire brigade. Another described some eLearning initiatives that had been developed for teleworkers. In response to another question, Ms Croll emphasised the importance of trust in persuading excluded groups to go online. Research had shown that there is considerable suspicion of the Internet among such groups. The use of social workers as trusted intermediaries had been shown to be successful in overcoming these barriers. In a general discussion of online job search mechanisms it was agreed that those who searched online were significantly more likely to find jobs than those using more traditional methods. However improved job search alone could not resolve all the labour market problems currently existing in Germany where some 9 million unemployed people were competing for around half a million vacancies.


3. SESSION 3: eGOVERNMENT, WELFARE POLICIES AND SOCIAL INCLUSION

3.1 Results from the LAW project Dr Pierre Concialdi, senior economist at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (IRES) in France, presented an overview of the case studies eGovernment case studies from the LAW project. Because eGovernment is such a broad field, the team had narrowed its focus to those aspects of particular relevance to the project, with a particular emphasis on the role played by ICTs in developing solutions to face new welfare challenges posed by the restructuring of the labour markets in improving information about benefits, improving access to welfare services, reducing the cost of delivery, and developing new programmes or services to address problems of social exclusion. Researchers in France, Germany, Italy and the UK had identified innovative examples of the successful use of ICTs in the delivery of welfare services and tackling social exclusion A breakdown of the resulting case studies by the areas of welfare services covered was as follows:

• Pensions – 1

• Unemployment – 2

• Health care – 4

• General welfare benefits 3

The pensions case studies looked at ways of improving information about benefits and online access to estimates of the pension. This could be viewed as an exceptionally low cost project with an indirect effect on the functioning of labour market (incidence on labour supply decision) The unemployment-related case studies looked at ways of improving information on supply and demand and the concept of a virtual labour market. Here, the outcomes definitely show a potential to enhance a better functioning of the labour market and to favour a better match between supply and demand. Here, development costs had tended to be high, in some cases arousing public controversy. It was not always possible to make a strong case that the benefits outweighed the costs in the short term because of the enormous gap between supply and demand on the job market, hence limited effects on the overall reduction of unemployment. The case studies looking at health care demonstrated several benefits: reducing the cost of delivery (administrative costs of processing information, rationalisation of procedures); improving the quality of service (reduction of the waiting period for reimbursement); potential for improving the quality of care (electronic health card); avoidance of unnecessary duplicate examinations; and improvements in drug and therapy safety. Here the main problems related to cost and security (digital signature). Case studies looking at welfare looking at improving information about benefits, improving access to welfare services, especially for groups most at risk (bridging the digital divide) and innovative examples of governments supporting the role of intermediaries With very few exceptions, most of these case studies are pilot schemes, hence there are some limitations for evaluating the schemes and drawing some very definitive conclusions However, it is possible to identify some characteristics of the schemes that might be useful for expanding innovative uses of ICTs in the field of work and welfare. These include:


• Improving information contributes to a better access to welfare services

• Innovative uses of ICTs for online claim of benefits

• High potential for reducing the cost

• Elimination of duplicated efforts

• Reduced paperwork and data input

• Minimising errors and frauds

In general, it can be concluded that there is a need for full evaluation of these pilots taking account of longer term costs and benefits. In general, this is a field in which cost/benefit analysis is difficult to carry out. High investment costs (at today’s costs) are clearly visible whilst any long term reduction in costs is more difficult to quantify (quality improvement). Some difficulties in promoting the use of ICTs in the welfare field might arise from this asymmetry between ST costs and LT benefits

3.2 The CeLINE Project – Sickness Certificates Online Giulio Giannetti, an analyst at the Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS) and chief administrator of the LAW project presented the CeLINE project involving creating online access to sickness certificates as an example of a project that can be categorised both as eGovernment and e-Health. As well as bringing about enormous administrative savings and other efficiencies, the creation of an online system for administering sickness certificates has also had the additional benefit of creating a rich epidemiological data warehouse which can be used for medical research as a contribution to improving the general health of the population. Before this initiative was developed, the system required the submission, both to INPS and to the employer, of a paper sickness certificate, released by the family doctor, in charge of the ill worker within 48 hours from the starting of the sickness period. The resulting paper flow involved about 12 million certificates nation-wide per year and involved many highly expensive and resource-consuming manual processes (receipt, stocking, acquisition of the certificates) adding up to a total process costs of over 52 millions Euro per year. The total elimination of the sickness certificate paper flow, has rendered the process completely automatic, with the added benefit of relieving the worker from the duty of submission of the certificate. This has led to the improvement and simplification of the relationship between users (citizens and doctors), public administration (INPS) and firms. On the INPS side, there has been a sharp reduction of costs and of processing time for the sickness indemnity payment process and the creation of a direct information flow between actors of different areas: workers, welfare administration (INPS), public health system (family doctors) and firms. On the citizen side there has been relief from the burden of bridging administrations with a strict and close deadline; From the point of view of the doctor there has been an easing of the compilation process (because the data are automatically retrieved) and no further need for a supply of paper forms.


On the welfare administration side there is a more efficient process, which can be monitored in real time, and which can be inserted into a quality control / benchmarking process. The CELINE web application is able to interact with the welfare legacy applications for the retrieval of the personal data of the patient and of the employer firm. Data transfer is managed by the secure HTTPS protocol, which allows the acquisition of certificates on-line, with immediate control of the transfer process. The system does not require additional software, the only requirement being a computer connected to the Internet with a common browser

3.3 The CEDRE Project Frédérique Nortier, Technical Director of AGIRC-ARRCO (compulsory complementary pension schemes for employees and executives in France) presented the CEDRE project, an online simulation tool that enables employees to calculate their pension levels under various different scenarios and thus make more informed choices about career changes and retirement. She began by explaining the highly fragmented French pension system whereby different components of the pension come from different sources, thus making it very difficult for workers to calculate their pension entitlement. CEDRE was developed to address this problem and is a new web-site developed by the basic and complementary pension schemes for salaried people in the agricultural and private sectors, It should be noted that it provides a simulation, not the calculation of a pension. It is an approach according to a series of ‘ifs’. The user is given a scenario that depends on:

• If I continue as a salaried worker

• If my wages progress, increase, stabilise themselves or decrease

• If I leave earlier or later

• And some other ‘ifs’ depending on the particular situation.

In other words, what is given is a conditional answer on the basis of the Cnav, MSA, Arrco and Agirc regulations and on various hypotheses of evolution of their parameters. The design of the simulator attempts to find a balance between simplicity on the one hand and reliability on the other. At the first click, the user is asked to give information on six variables: sex; date of birth; date of the beginning of the career; number of children; first wages; current wages. At the second click, information is given on the importance of the career profile and on the pension schemes, with an explanation that rights depend on the annual wages. The user is then given four career profiles to choose to simulate them. In the next step, the user has to choose the level that is as near as possible to his or her actual wages before indicating his or her employment status (whether an executive or not). According to the scenario chosen, the simulator gives the year and the age of retirement at full rate, which is defined in a pop-up. It then answers the question ‘how much?’ in an answer in which the annual pension is analysed into basic and complementary pension The total pension is given in gross and net euros and as a percentage of the last wages To help the user decide whether to delay or anticipate, an illustration of the choices offered by the 2003 Law on pensions reform is given. The simulator also calculates what should be the pension if the worker leave earlier or later. The Cedre project was exceptionally cheap to develop. It covers a large part of the working population, has been found to be very simple and user-friendly and the results are


computed very quickly. Cedre also has a pedagogic function, helping the user to understand how the social security pension is calculated. However it does have some limitations. It is possible that in some cases its very simplicity could be misleading. Inevitably some compromises had to be made in finding the balance between keeping the tool as simple as possible whilst still gathering enough information to achieve a good simulation. Other weaknesses are that it does not give warnings about the sustainability of the pension system; nor does it take account of atypical careers. The current situation in France is that a new legal right of information has been created for all workers, whatever their career is. A new web-site, named a ‘universal simulator’ will be online from early 2006 and a summary of the individual accounted for all working people will be available upon request of the workers from July 2006. A global estimation of the future pension for all workers aged 57 years or more will be available from July 2007.

3.4 the eBenefit Project Mark Evans, Programme Director, and Gill Leivers, Project Manager, from Rotherham Borough Council in the UK presented the eBenefit project. This is one of 22 Local e-Gov National Projects supported by central government - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It is the largest of the National Projects, with a budget of £8.8 million. The concept underlying the National Projects is that eGovernment initiatives are developed and piloted by groups of Local Authorities working together before being rolled out nationally, with the overall aim of joining up cross-Government services to improve citizens’ access as well as generating efficiencies. The eBenefits project aims to:

• Alleviate the digital divide by providing supported access to electronic services.

• Offer greater support to those in poverty as the structure of the population is changing.

• Break down barriers to work and support the Pathways to Work and reform of Incapacity Benefit.

• Provide security and dignity for citizens in retirement.

• Help encourage the local economy through take-up of welfare benefits.

At present it offers online access to all benefits administered and delivered by local authorities. However it also has the potential to be extended to cover the benefits administered and delivered by national government, because between 50% and 95% of the information required for other welfare benefits is already captured via the local authority claiming processes. The eBenefits Project developed a joined-up vision in collaboration with central government and produced and piloted in Rotherham a system that utilises common infrastructure. It has produced technical standards connecting front to back office systems which are being used by suppliers and has also developed a range of best practice guidance and implementation roadmaps. The eBenefits system was developed by a consortium of suppliers – Northgate, Microsoft, BT and Ruleburst. It uses rules technology – one local authority administered benefit has over 10,000 rules. Among the advantages of the eBenefits system is unique are that it provides advisors and trusted intermediaries with a single user-interface. The eBenefits system


enables the viewing/printing of a high-level eligibility assessment to all 61 welfare benefits to which a claimant might be entitled. This entitlement summary provides an accurate estimate of eligibility to citizens as well as a checklist of the documents required to make a claim. A single electronic application (max. 6 pages) is capable of being used for multiple benefits that is digitally signed and integrates into backend systems. The pilot has now been completed in Rotherham and an early adopter programme is being developed for other local authorities. There are also plans to extend the joint working with Central Government Departments.

3.5 Discussion A number of questions were addressed to the speakers about the case studies presented. The strategy of developing regional pilots for national eGovernment initiatives had been adopted in most of the Member States under study and was clearly an effective one. Several experts in the audience expressed the view that there was potential for them to be extended internationally, making it possible to learn from experiences in other countries. Session 4 Welfare quality of life and the digital divide in the new EU member states


4. SESSION 4: WELFARE, QUALITY OF LIFE AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN NEW EU MEMBER

STATES

4.1 Results from the LAW project Dr Zofia Czepulis-Rutkowska, senior researcher at the Institute of Labour and Social Studies (IPISS) in Poland, presented a study carried out as part of the LAW project on the digital divide and welfare in a New Member States – Poland. She began by summarising the challenge of building an information society in Poland in the context of the Lisbon Strategy, comparing Poland’s position not only against that of the ‘old’ EU countries but also the other ‘new’ member states. In relation to a range of key benchmarks. Overall, it emerged as relatively underdeveloped in the typology:

• Leaders (Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands)

• Early followers(Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, UK, Spain, Italy)

• Late followers (Liechtenstein, Ireland, Estonia)

• Underdeveloped (Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland)

There is clear evidence of a Digital Divide in Poland across a number of dimensions. At the enterprise level, 85% of business have Internet access but broadband access is strongly differentiated by size (79% in large businesses, but only 21% in small) At the household level, 36% owns PC (42% - cities, 25% in the country) whilst 26% have access to the Internet (31% in the cities, 15% in the country). There is a strong correlation with age (2/3 at the age 18-24, 1/2 at the age 24-34),with wealth (68% of affluent, 30% of average, 12% of low income) and with education (3/4 with university degree, 1/2 with secondary education, a few with lower education) There have been a number of national initiatives for Information Society involving several Ministries and various other institutions but with the Ministry of Science and Information Technology taking the leading role. The key policy documents are eEurope+ and ePolska - Action Plan Fostering Information Society in Poland. There has also been a public debate about the level of funding (often considered insufficient) the use of EU Structural funds and about educating about the Information Society. A number of targets have been set relating to the availability of online information and services and to digital skills and ICT access for the population. There have also been some interesting initiatives involving applications of ICTS in the social insurance institution and in the labour market. ICTs have been introduced to assist job search via information kiosks in job centres whilst several job search websites have been created. In the Social Insurance Institution, an important initiative resulted from reforms in Social Insurance which proved to be an ICT development driver. Here, legislative change introduced a general reform of all social insurance contributions and an individualisation of old age pensions. These reforms could not have been possible without sophisticated ICT applications making it possible to unite information from a variety of sources and produce accurate individual calculations for each citizen, the new system involves communication


with customers, communication with payers and communication with beneficiaries and has brought with it major changes in the institutes approach towards customers, thus forming a good example of eGovernment. Under the new system it is now possible for all workers and unemployed people in Poland to receive an accurate prediction (not a simulation!) of their pension based on their own contributions record to date.

4.2 ICT, social capital and quality of life: the European situation Dr Jeroen Heres, a social scientist at TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research), and Director of the SOCQUIT Project, presented some research results from the project that addressed the question ‘What are the mutual effects between ICT, Social Capital and Quality of Life?’ The presentation started with a discussion of definitions and indicators of the quality of life, some Europe-wide comparative statistics and an analysis of what influences the quality of life and the role of ICTs. The project has concluded that social capital makes a key contribution to the quality of life and that ICT use plays an important role in the development of social capital in particular by stimulating reinforcing effects that are increasing differences in the levels of quality of life. An analysis of indicators of quality of life by SOCQUIT found that all indicators are interrelated and reinforcing and that deprivation in one domain causes deprivation in another. ICT increases quality of life differences because ICT use feeds into reinforcing effects. This means that those who are most privileged seem to benefit more from ICT than those who are deprived. Furthermore, the project concludes that ICTs are relational tools and that ICT use is socially shaped. Social networks could be seen as a platform on which ICTs are introduced, getting a meaning and being incorporated in daily life. The social environment is key in adoption processes influencing awareness, understanding (social experience and support) through social influence/ pressure. SOCQUIT sees ICT users as innovators who define their own applications and uses. Whilst industry wants to see convergence, contents and services in the information society and politicians want to see health, education, employment and inclusion, users send snapshots of their holidays and enjoy phatic interactions (then they do these other things). It can be concluded that ICT has potential to contribute to the quality of life, however the effects are complex and could also be negative. Often it is mainly the privileged who benefit. Social differences should be taken into account by policy makers and it should be recognised that ICT is a social networking technology. The message to policy makers is: If you want to stimulate, take care for social embeddedness, provide guidance & support, a role for communities, peers, and bottom-up initiatives.

4.3 An overview of eGovernment in the UK In a change from the published programme (caused by the illness of Professor Glomb) Stephen Dodson, Head of the Local eGovernment Division, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the UK, kindly stepped in at short notice to present an overview of eGovernment policy in the UK. This presentation predicted that in five years time the concept of eGovernment will be have been transformed to a taken-for-granted dimension of a Government that is in


transition to the development of a Knowledge Society. In order for this to take place, it has to be recognised that ICT policy cannot be constructed by engineers alone but needs to take social process into account. In his opinion, creative processors are gaining significance in policy making and this can be seen in the UK in the development of eGovernment policies which, although centrally directed, are delegated downwards to local authorities for many aspects of their implementation. The overall aim of the policy is to achieve transformation through ICTs on three levels: the social, the economic and the environmental. A range of policy initiatives have been developed with aims including: raising ICT standard in schools and developing IT skills in the aging population and a variety of ways in which ICT can benefit youth and communities. In the UK forty five innovative projects have been funded (of which the eBenefits project is one) as part of a larger digital strategy with the explicit aim of developing a user-driven approach. In order to maximise inclusion, a number of these emphasise the use of text messaging and digital TV applications, since these are used by a much wider proportion of the population than has access to a PC or the Internet.

4.4 Discussion In a wide-ranging discussion it was pointed out that the conclusions of the SOCQUIT project, though starting with very different research questions, were strikingly similar to those of the LAW project, which, especially in relation to eLearning and eGovernment had emphasised the importance of social embeddedness and the role of personal assistance and mediation to ensure access to telemediated services for the most vulnerable members of society. One member of the audience drew attention to the evidence that has shown that ICT can increase political participation among confident ICT users but may exclude other members of society from participating in such programmes. Stephen Dodson said that this was one of the reasons that the UK was piloting text messaging programmes targeted at young people and developing digital TV programmes in its eDemocracy projects.


5. SESSION 5: ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

5.1 A synthesis of concepts and practices: opportunities and risks in the information society The final session of the conference consisted of a round-table discussion aimed at synthesising concepts and practices, identifying opportunities and risks in the Information Society and identifying the main conclusions resulting from the LAW project and the conference and policy recommendations arising from them. Professor Ursula Huws opened the session by summarising some of the main conclusions arising from the first three sessions of the conference. She then invited each of the round table participants to make a short presentation before opening up a more general discussion with the audience. First to speak was Dorle Dracklè, Professor of Social Anthropology and Intercultural Studies at the University of Bremen. She spoke about her research on ethnic minority groups and social inclusion. She stressed the importance of ‘soft factors’ in successful practice and said that her research supported the findings of the LAW project in finding that a major investment in human resources is necessary for success in ethnic inclusion and the development of eLiteracy. There is a need for substantial financial inputs here; best practice examples may create the basis for nice reports but if they are to lead to positive results there is a need for longer-term funding to produce sustainable projects that go beyond pilots. There is also a need to take account of the cultural traditions of ethnic groups and draw on them to ensure that learning is accepted and seen as relevant by users. Next, Francesco Lotito, Confederation Secretariat of UIL and President of the Supervisory Board of INPS gave a trade union perspective on the welfare systems. He said that there is a need for a strong EU dimension of welfare systems. Although these are currently developed at a national level, the trends currently affecting labour can only be effectively understood at a broader European level. The issue of flexibility is extremely important and needs to be assessed from the point of view of the risks it raises for workers (such as fatigue and precariousness) as well as its advantages. There is a need to enhance flexible work contracts within a framework of citizenship rights. These can be summarised as four basic rights: to pensions; to health protection; to motherhood; and to access to lifelong learning. The big question facing policy makers is how to organise a welfare state in the new economic context. The third panellist, Enzo Mattina, a former Member of the European Parliament, is Vice President of the employment agency, QUANTA SpA. In this capacity he provided a fascinating inside view of the changes in labour markets that have taken place in recent years. The boom in online recruitment which took place between 1999 and 2001 was now over, partly as a result of the bursting of the ‘dot.com bubble’ but partly because it had been found only to work to a limited degree. There was a need to use other methods alongside the Internet to find suitable recruits, including recruiting in schools and public places such as bars. A problem in online recruitment is the ‘flatness’ of cvs and the need to explore other means, including online means such as blogs, to gain more information about candidates. The fourth panellist, Steve Anton, an IT Management Consultant, for the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)in the UK, described the experience of setting up online access to information about welfare benefits for this well-established nationwide network of advice bureaux. Echoing the results from some of the other LAW case studies, he stressed the importance of trusted intermediaries for clients, many of whom were from at-risk groups and almost


all of whom had approached the CAB because of a bad experience in dealing directly with the authorities. He drew attention to the many benefits of this online service, for clients, for CAB staff and for the government departments themselves, who were saved a great deal of paperwork by the interventions of these intermediaries. The fifth panellist, Professor Lorenzo Gaeta, Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Siena, Italy, discussed changes taking place in labour markets associated with the introduction of ICTs from a labour law perspective. He drew attention to the importance of the concept of subordination and illustrated how problematic this had become in the light of developments associated with the IT revolution such as teleworking and the growing autonomy of some workers in managing their own working time and tasks. This had blurred some boundaries that had been clear during the Fordist period between what was the management’s prerogative and what was the worker’s responsibility. Here, the issue of labour time was very important. A reintroduction of payment by results (effectively piece-rates) had also transferred some responsibility for self-management back onto workers. It was necessary to establish whether this represented a real autonomy for workers or simply a disguised form of subordination which enabled the employer to escape the duties and obligations which normally accompany the employer-employee relationship. The final panellist, Dr Zofia Czepulis-Rutkowska, gave a perspective on the proceedings from a New Member State as well as from someone who had been actively involved in the research of the LAW project. She summarised some of the main conclusions she had drawn: there is a need to pay more attention to the concept of flexibility and how it may conflict with security; there is a need to develop the role of ICT in bridging discontinuities in employment; there is a need to develop training quickly in response to immediate needs in the labour market and in society; and there is a need to ensure that awareness of ICT and eLiteracy is developed in schools, before young people are released onto the labour market.

5.2 Discussion A number of points were raised in the ensuing discussion. One speaker emphasise the need for life-long learning in view of the speed of change in the information society and asked how policy-makers could be sure that the supply of learning resources would keep pace with this change. Several speakers drew attention to the lack of resources for eLearning in many Member States. This was something that had been fashionable two or three years ago and a number of pilot schemes had been set up, but now that the pilots were over, no resources were being made available to continue the good practice that had been developed. Another speaker emphasised the importance of co-determination in the development of social inclusion policies. There was also a discussion about globalisation. On the one hand, there was a risk of jobs being offshored from Europe to Asia. On the other hand, it was necessary to consider the crisis in the Middle East and the Mediterranean rim where there was a need for 20 million new jobs. This was a crisis on Europe’s doorstep of which Europe’s labour markets and welfare systems might have to cope with the consequences. The meeting concluded with thanks from the chair to the European Commission for funding the LAW project, to the speakers and members of the audience who had contributed to its success, to Carmen Ceinos, the project’s reviewer who had sat attentively through all the proceedings, and to the members of the LAW consortium, especially the staff at CISS and INPS and Simone Dahlmann at Analytica for the hard work they had put into the conference organisation.


6. CONCLUSIONS Some of the main conclusions that can be drawn from the conference include:

• There are large variations in progress towards a knowledge-based economy in different member states – hence a need for a more differentiated analysis

• There is a need for policies that address employment status – especially the issue of labour subordination – in order to ensure equity and avoid exclusion in a flexible networked-base labour market

• There is a need for some new thinking ‘outside the box’ on the future of pensions and welfare systems in the EU

• There is a need for more research and debate at the EU level about the interactions between labour market changes and welfare systems

• Skills are of crucial importance in a knowledge-based-economy; a lack of skills carries with it a serious risk of long-term unemployment

• To avoid social exclusion, investment in people (especially helpers and intermediaries) is more important than investment in technology

• Learning should be individually tailored

• Learning should be rooted in real-life experiences

• Learning should be tailored to the needs of local stakeholders

• There is a need to make a convincing case that long-term savings will result from short-term investment in the case of many eGovernment schemes

• This implies a strong need for careful evaluation of pilot projects – including a need for research in advance to ensure that appropriate indicators are identified and relevant information collected from the outset

• The strategy of regional pilots for eGovernment schemes seems to work well. Possibilities for international extension should be investigated

• There is a need to disseminate information about good practice


APPENDIX A1: CONFERENCE AGENDA

Day 1 – Friday 4 November 2005

9.00 Registration

Session 1 Labour markets and welfare systems in a European knowledge-based society Chair: A. Lettieri (CISS), Italy

9.30 Welcome A. Lettieri (CISS), Italy

9.40 Key results from the LAW project LAW Scientific Coordinator U. Huws (Analytica), UK

10.00 ICT and Labour Market change – groups at risk P. Pascucci - University of Urbino, Italy

10.20 Restructuring of welfare systems – the implications for social equality M. Promberger - IAB, Germany

10.40 Q/A session and discussion

10.50-11.10 Coffee break

Session 2 ICT skills and life-long learning: e-inclusion in the labour market Chair: D. Engels (ISG), Germany

11.10 Results from the project LAW project H. Apel (ISG), Germany

11.30 Digital Opportunities Project J. Croll - University of Bremen, Germany

12.10 Q/A session and discussion

12.40-2.30 Lunch

Session 3: e-Government, welfare policies and social inclusion Chair: H. Apel (ISG), Germany

2.30 Results from the project LAW project P. Concialdi (IRES), France

2.50 CeLine Project Sickness Certificates on Line

G. Giannetti, INPS, Italy

3.10 CEDRE project F. Nortier, AGIRC-ARRCO, France

3.30 Ebenefits project, UK M. Evans, Ebenefits Programme Director, Rotherham Council, UK

4.00-5.00 Q/A session and discussion

Day 2 – Saturday 5 November 2005

Session 4: Welfare quality of life and the digital divide in new EU member states

Chair: A. Lettieri (CISS), Italy

9.30 Results from the project Z. Rutkowska (IPiSS), Poland

9.50 ICT, social capital and quality of Life: the European situation

J. Heres (TNO), The Netherlands Director of SOCQUIT Project

10.10 e-Government perspectives in UK S. Dodson, e-Government division, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, UK

10.30 Discussion

11-11.20 Coffee break

Session 5: A synthesis of concepts and practices : opportunities and risks in the Info Society

Panel discussion Chair: U. Huws (Analytica)

11.20-12.45

A round table discussion

S. Anton, Citizens Advice Bureau, UK


S. Dodson, e-Government division, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, UK D. Dracklé, University of Bremen, Germany L. Gaeta, University of Siena, Italy F. Lotito, UIL, Italy E. Mattina, Deputy Director of Quanta S.p.A., Italy Z. Rutkowska (IPiSS), Poland

12.45 Concluding remarks

1.00 Conference end


APPENDIX A2: CVS OF SPEAKERS

Speakers Helmut Apel, LAW project and senior researcher at ISG, Germany Dr. Helmut Apel, born 1958, is senior researcher at ISG - Institut für Sozialforschung und Gesellschaftspolitik (institute for social reseach and politics) in Cologne. He is sociologist, diploma 1987, Dr. phil. 1992 at the University of Marburg. He was research fellow at University of Siegen (1987 to 1992) and research executive at the market and opinion research institute TNS Emnid (Tayler Nelson Sofres-Groupe, 1992 to 1997). Since 1997 he has been working at ISG Cologne, predominantly working on empirical studies. His main areas of expertise are: labour market research, evaluation of European and national labour market programmes, in particular ESF-programmes, SME politics, evaluation of European and national RTD promotion programmes, qualification and education policies, transposition and implementation and of the National Actions Plans on Employment, low wage sector and marginal employment. He contributed to evaluation of the implementation of the European Employment Strategy. Currently he is involved in the ongoing evaluation of German’s recent labour market reforms (Hartz reforms). Pierre Concialdi— Senior economist, IRES,France. Graduate of the HEC (Hautes études commerciales), is working since 1995 as a senior economist at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (IRES) in France. Earlier he worked as a deputy director at the Center for Research on Incomes and Costs (CERC). He his member of the executive committee of the ENRSP (European Network for Research on Supplementary Pensions). In previous studies, he has focused on income distribution, social protection and the financing of social security, tax progressivity and low-wage employment, on which subjects he has several publications. Jutta Croll, Business Manageress Digital Opportunities Foundation, Germany Since April 2003 Business Manageress Stiftung Digitale Chancen / Digital Opportunities Foundation, Germany. March 2001 – March 2003 Chiefeditor and Deputy Manageress / Projectmanageress Digital Opportunities Network at University of Bremen, Germany. 1993 – 2001 Scientific Researcher, Telecommunications Research Group University of Bremen: Editor of the German Yearbook Jahrbuch Telekommunikation und Gesellschaft (print and online), Projectdevelopment, Conferenceorganization. 1990 – 1992 Scientic Assistant in the Department of Manuscripts at the University Library in Göttingen, exhibition management. 1990 University diploma Magistra Artium. 1985 – 1990 Studies of German Literature, Politics and Media Science at the University of Göttingen, Germany: Main focus on interdisciplinary topics as Political Literature after the Second World War and Media Politics. 1975 – 1984 Librarian at the Murhardsche and Landesbibliothek and University Library, Kassel.


Additional work: Scientific research studies for UNESCO, author of several articles on telecommunications and new media for Brockhaus Encyclopedia. Stephen Dodson, Local e-Government Division, Office Of Deputy Prime Minister, UK Stephen has worked within UK Local Government for twenty years in a variety of capacities. He has been responsible for several large scale Economic & Regeneration Programmes working across all sectors before becoming e-Programme Manager at Kirklees MBC. Here he saw the crucial role ICT can and should play in social and economic regeneration. In addition Stephen took on the mantle of programme manager for two of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s (ODPM) Digital Interactive Television National Project and the Mobile Text Project – both of which contribute to tackling the digital divide and encouraging social inclusion. Stephen has been in his current post as National e-Innovations & Digital Challenge Programme Manager with the ODPM since September 2004 and is responsible for 45 local government e-innovations projects and developing The Digital Challenge as part of the UK’s Digital Strategy working to bring about social, economic and environmental transformation in local government through ICT. Dietrich Engels, ISG, Chairman of the second session, Germany Dr. Dietrich Engels, born 12th September 1956, is sociologist (1984, MA in Sociology; 1988, PHD, University of Göttingen) and managing director of ISG (Institut für Sozialforschung und Gesellschaftspolitik) in Cologne. His research activities concern social policy issues on national and international level. His work includes consulting services for German Ministries of Labour and Social Security. Other areas of expertise are: · Studies on the system of social security, especially in the field of social security benefits and on insurance systems as well as on the field of health and care supply and case management in the elderly assistance system · Studies on social exclusion / inclusion on, international, national and regional level; Preparation and monitoring of the German Poverty and Wealth Report · Comparison of social security systems in EU-member states ‘MISSOC’, analysis of new forms of labour and their impact on social security systems. Mark Evans, Ebenefits Programme Director, Rotherham Council, UK Mark Evans is the Programme Director for the e-Benefits National Project, a government funded project being led by Rotherham Borough Council aimed at delivering an e-government solution, standards and best practice guidance in the administration of welfare benefits for local government across the UK. Prior to joining the project, Mark worked to move forward the performance and improvement agenda across Rotherham, being involved in projects that have led to national recognition. Mark is a graduate in Business Information and has over 18 years in the public sector with his early career primarily spent in local government. This was later followed by a spell working for the UK Courts Service being involved in a variety of cross-cutting projects involving other criminal justice partners, gaining national recognition for his work leading to a secondment onto a national government taskforce to lead on implementing performance improvements across the service. You can reach him at: [email protected].


Paolo Pascucci, Professor of University of Siena, Italy Born in Pesaro in 1954. Graduated in Law at University of Urbino and conducted further studies on Labour Law and Social Security at the Economics faculty at University of Bologna, have been working since 1983; - starting from the academic year 1983/84, worked with Prof. Marina Rudan scientific and teaching activities of Labour Law at the Law faculty of University of Urbino; - in the academic years 1985/1986, 1986/1987, 1987/1988 worked with Prof. Gaetano Vardaro scientific and teaching activities of Labour Law at the Economics faculty of University of Urbino; - in the academic years 1987/88, 1988/89 e 1989/90 was fixed term professor on the course of Labour Law regarding the theme ‘Trade Unionism and conflict in regarding public employees’ at the Law faculty of University of Urbino; - Starting from November of 1990 was appointed as a university researcher at the Law faculty of University of Urbino per for the fields regarding Labour Law. - Starting from November of 1990 was officially hired as full time permanent researcher at the Law faculty of University of Urbino for the fields regarding Labour Law, role till now held. Gulio Giannetti, Chief Administrator of the LAW project and analyst at INPS (National Social Security Institute), Italy Degree in Engineering, specialisation in Bioengineering and Computer Science. Currently analyst at INPS, Departments of ‘Information and Communication Technology’ and ‘Study and Research’, External and International Area. Past activities include design of databases using software engineering tools and collaboration with the Artificial Intelligence Group at INPS, developing expert systems for internal applications. His current competencies include work and studies on large data collections on matter of welfare and labour, also on the harmonization and standardization of data, and socio-economic research. He has been working on projects funded by the European Commission, both under the 4th and 5th Framework Programmes (Telematic Application Programme and Socio-Economic Cross-Programme respectively). Jeroen Heres, Director of the SOCQUIT Project, TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research), The Netherlands Jeroen Heres works as a social scientist for TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) on the domain of ICT and Social Change. He studies the acceptance of ICT and its socio-economic implications in order to formulate policy guidelines for governments and industry. Currently Jeroen Heres is leading a project within the European Commission’s 6th framework program about Social Capital, Quality of Life and ICT’s (SOCQUIT). He is also the projectleader of Domotion about social, economic and mobility effects of telework in the Amsterdam region. Furthermore Jeroen Heres has been recently involved in several European intitiatives, like the EURESCOM study ‘Cross-cultural attitudes towards ICT in everyday life’, the European framework projects ‘E-living’ and ‘New Media in a New Millenium’ (NM2), as well as the COST actions ‘User aspects of ICT’ and ‘Participation in a broadband society’.


Ursula Huws, LAW Scientific Coordinator and Director of Analytica Social and Economic Research, UK Ursula Huws is Professor of International Labour Studies at the Working Lives Research Institute at London Metropolitan University and the author of the Making of a Cybertariat (Monthly Review Press, New York, 2003). She is also Director of Analytica Social and Economic Research Ltd. Her work for the European Commission includes evaluations, project reviews and expert consultancy as well as substantial involvement in research projects, with a special focus on the reorganisation of work in the Knowledge Society and its social and policy impacts. Projects she has directed include Teleworking and Gender and Flexible Labour Markets and Benefit Systems in Europe for DG Employment and Social Affairs, EMERGENCE and RESPECT for DG Information Society and Asian EMERGENCE (for EuropeAid’s Asia-ITC programme). She has also acted as the UK partner in SOWING (DG Research), TOSCA, STILE and JANUS (DG Information Society). She is currently carrying out a policy review for DG Research of projects on Information Society issues funded under the 4th and 5th Framework programmes. She has also played a key role in the organisation of several major global conferences including ‘Where in the World? eWork Location in a Global Digital Economy’ (Budapest 2000), ‘the World, the Workplace and We, the Workers’ (Brussels 2002), ‘Globalization, Innovation and Human Resource Development for Competitive Advantage’ (Bangkok, 2002) and ‘Real work in a Virtual World: the human impact of organisational transformation in a digital global economy’ (Vienna, 2003) Her research clients at an international level also include the European Trade Union Confederation, the International Labour Organisation, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations University Institute of Technology. She has carried out research and consultancy and presented seminars for government departments and/or government-funded conferences in Australia, Canada, France, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Latvia, Japan, India, Malaysia, and the USA as well as in the UK where she has carried out research for many national and local government bodies and QUANGOs. In addition, she has provided consultancy services for a number of major international companies, including IBM, BT, Siemens and AT&T as well as SMEs and enterprise support agencies, NGOs and trade unions. Between 1990 and 1996 she was a senior lecturer in social research methodology at the University of North London, developing courses in labour market research, researching gender, policy analysis, equal opportunities in education and research ethics. She has extensive publishing experience, both as an author and as an editor. Antonio Lettieri, President of CISS - Centre of International Social Studies - Italy Has been National secretary of FIOM (Metalworkers trade union) and of CGIL (General confederation of Italian labour); Member of CNEL (National Council for Economy and Labour); Member of the Governing body of the ILO (International Labour Office); Member of EU Employment Committee, Advisor of the Italian Labour Minister on European Policies. Currently contract professor of Labour law at the University of Naples and president of CISS - Centre for international Social Studies.


Frédérique Nortier, Direction technique - Agirc-Arrco (Compulsory complementary pension schemes for employees and executives), France Since 1996, Agirc-Arrco (Compulsory complementary pension schemes for employees and executives): in charge of studies and tools on pensions. In charge of the project specification of the universal simulator for salaried workers and also the Cedre project specification. Participation to the conception of the pension part of exhibition: ‘Global Population …and me’, Cité des sciences (Paris). Follows pension reforms and theirs impacts on amount of individual pension in the future. Before, research fellow, CERC (Study Centre on revenues and costs), and for the Social Affairs Ministry: study about the cost of the dependant elderlyEducation- Economic sciences: DEA science of organisations, ‘Economic perspectives and prospective’, Dauphine University, Paris IX. Master of economic sciences, Sorbonne University, Paris I. Markus Promberger, Director of research unit Social Security and Integration, IAB (Employment Research of the Federal Employment Office), Germany Born 1963 in Nuernberg/Germany. M.A. in sociology, political science and history 1990, Dr. phil. 1999 at the University of Erlangen. Research fellow at the Erlangen University’s Department of Sociology and Social Sciences Research Centre from 1990 to 2001, senior researcher at the Institute for Employment Research of the Federal Employment Office - Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB) der Bundesagentur für Arbeit until summer 2005, since then director of the IAB’s research unit 8 on ‘social security and integration: labour market reforms for long term unemployed and welfare clients’. Specialized on the sociology of work, industry and organizations, his research activities include working hours, establishment flexibility, industrial relations, labour market and employment research, also in historical, international and cross-cultural comparison. Presently his main activities focus in research on the social situation, biographical dynamics and labour market orientation of the ‘employable poor’, covering individual, family/household, network and organisational aspects. Zofia Czepulis-Rutkowska, senior researcher in the Institute of Labour and Social Studies, Poland Senior researcher in the Institute of Labour and Social Studies, director of Bureau for European Integration in the Polish Social Insurance Institution. Until 2003 she has held a position of vice dean and a lecturer at the Warsaw College of Insurance and Banking. Her professional interest include research on: living standards, institutions of welfare state and labour market. She has participated in several international comparative studies and is the author of many publications.

Panellists: Steve Anton, Citizens Advice Bureau, IT Management Consultant, UK Steve is one of four IT Management Consultants for Citizens Advice in England and Wales - his remit covering the 90 member Bureaux in London and North West Regions in England. Citizens Advice exists to ensure that members of the public can have access to free, impartial, confidential and independent advice on a wide variety of topics including welfare, employment and consumer law. Steve joined the Citizens Advice service as a volunteer having completed his post graduate


degree in Criminology in 1991 after a number of years working in private legal practice. He became a deputy manager in a local bureau in 1992, joining Citizens Advice itself in 1997. Steve’s role includes offering consultancy service to Bureau on strategy and implementation of ICT systems in general and to assist local Bureau in implementing IT products and services developed by Citizens Advice, with the challenges the movement from paper based to electronically based systems brings. Steve has taken a lead role in pursuing initiatives involving the Bureau and the developing egovernment arena. Dorle Dracklè, Professor of Social Anthropology and Intercultural Studies at the University of Bremen Teaching Intercultural Studies, Media Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies, engaged at the moment in promoting the use of multimedia in teaching. In connection with this, she is testing the effect of e-learning and how it can be meaningfully applied. She has done field-work in Portugal on élites, culture, economy and the European Union, and also on local media (radio stations and newspapers). Her current research concerns inter-culturality and media, particularly multi-cultural media in Germany (literature, radio, television, film, net). Of special interest: Connection between policies in the area of e-government and the politics of ethnicity at a European level, and also the local realisation of the former in administrative bodies, universities and think-tanks. Lorenzo Gaeta, University of Siena, Italy Born in Bella (Potenza, Italy) in 1954. Graduated in Law with full marks cum laude at the University of Salerno. He was researcher (from 1986 to 1989) and Associate Professor (from 1989 to 2000) of Labour Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Reggio Calabria (from 1998 University of Catanzaro ‘Magna Graecia’). Since 2000 he is Extraordinary Professor in Labour Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Siena. He has been cooperating with German and Spanish Universities (Freiburg, Frankfurt, Castilla-La Mancha, Balearic Islands). Member of the editorial staff of the ‘Giornale di diritto del lavoro e di relazioni industriali (Journal of Labour Law and Industrial Liaisons’. In 1994 his book, Lavoro a distanza e subordinazione, won the ‘Scanno’ prize for industrial relations; in 1994 and 1999 his issues were included, by the Club of jurists, among the books of the year. Currently has been elected Dean of law faculty at the University of Siena. Francesco Lotito, Confederation Secretariat of UIL and President of Supervisory Board of INPS Born at Adria, in the province of Bari in 1946. Following various years of political activity he joined the national metalworkers structure of UIL (Union of Italian Workers trade union) in 1972. In 1976 he is member of the secretariat of UILM (metalworkers branch) and in 1983 becomes the General Secretary of ULIM, a position kept until 1992. In the same period was Vice President of FEM (European Federation of Metalworkers) and member of the executive committee of the IMF (International Metalworkers Federation). In 1992 joins the Confederation Secretariat of UIL, a position he still occupies while has been also appointed President of Supervisory Board of INPS (National Institute of Social Provision). President of Institute of Trade Union Studies – History of Trade Unionism- of UIL.


Member of the management board of the G.Emanuele and Vera Modigliani Foundation and Giacomo Brodolini Foundation.Published various books regarding trade unionism. Enzo Mattina, Vice President of QUANTA SpA, Degree in LAW from the University of Naples. Former Member of the European Parliament. Currently, Vice President of Quanta SpA


APPENDIX A.3 - LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

LAW Partners Simone Dahlmann Analytica, UK Ursula Huws Analytica, UK Michael Haile CISS, Italy Antonio Lettieri CISS, Italy Matilde Raspini CISS, Italy Giulio Giannetti INPS, Italy Zofia Rutkwoska IPiSS, Poland Geltruda Uscinska IPiSS, Poland Pierre Concialdi Ires, France Solveig Grimault Ires, France Helmut Apel ISG, Germany Dietrich Engels ISG, Germany

Speakers and Panellists Steve Anton Citizen Advice Bureau, UK Jutta Croll Stiftung Digitale Chancen, Germany Stephen Dodson Office of Deputy Prime Minister, UK Dorle Dracklé University of Bremen, Germany Mark Evans e-Gov project- Programme Director, UK Lorenzo Gaeta University of Siena, Professor, Italy Joroen Heres TNO- Project Leader- Netherlands Franco Lotito UIL, Italy Enzo Mattina Quanta SPA, Vice President, Italy Frédérique Nortier AGIRC-ARRCO, France Paolo Pascucci University of Urbino, Italy Markus Promberger IAB-Researcher-Germany

Participants Claudio Achilli IPSOA, Italy Andrea Amato The Mediterranean Institute (IMED), Pres. Elisabetta Aurino University Roma 3, student- Italy Karl-Erich Andersson Tieto-Enator Gov. Services-Sweden Paolo Andruccioli ‘Il Manifesto’ newspaper, Journalist, Italy Amico Antenucci Ass.Smile, Italy B. Balcerzak Paradowska President IPISS-Poland


Massimo Bordini CNEL, Italia Valentina Bucciarelli ISPESL- Italy Gabrielle Buratti INCA-IT Manager- Italy Giuseppe Casciano ‘Conquiste del Lavoro’ – journalist, Italy Francesco Cerasani Parliamentary assistant, Italy Sandro Clementi CNIPA, Manager- Italy Carlo Clericetti La Repubblica newspaper- journalist-Italy Federico Conte Rete NUVV, Advisor, Italy Cristina Collecorvino SMILE-CGIL, Italy Diego Cuzzi University of L’Aquila, professor Paolo Cuzzi AMEX, Italy Fabio De Nardis University of Lecce. Professor Roberta Fallarco SMILE-CGIL, taly Gianni Ferrante FIOM-CGIL- Economics Dep. Italy Luciano Forlani Ministry of Labour and Welfare-Italy Liselotte Hedebouv SERV - Scientific Worker Gutknechtn Hani Gerge Free Journalist Emilio La Via UIL- Italy Angelo Lana EDIESSE Publishing House - Italy Rita Latini University Rome-Italy Gillian Leivers e-Gov project, UK Local Officer- UK Claudio Lettieri Poste Italiane, Italy Bruno Liverani FIM-CISL- Press officer, Italy Carlo Lucarelli ISTAT, Italy Fulvia Mattarella University Roma - Student, Italy Rony Medaglia University ‘La Sapienza’ – Rome, Italy Maria Luisa Mirabile IRES, Institute manager, Italy Vincenzo Moretti University of Salerno, Italy Cristina Oteri IRES-CGIL, Italy Pasqualina Napoletano MEP, Vice Pres. of the Eur. Socialist Group Ruggero Paladini University Roma, professor, Italy Giuseppe Pennisi Italia-Oggi, Journalist, Italy Claudio Piccinini INCA, ICT responsible, Italy Luisa Porzo CGIL Nazionale, Italy Luigi Posafio Centro Sandro Pertini, President- Italy Guglielmo Ragozzino Il Manifesto news paper- Journalist, Italy Renato Rizzo EuroTelework-Coordinator, Italy Luigino Salvatori Italy Carla Scaramella IMED, Project Manager, Italy Klaus Schmitz German Embassy Social Affairs Counsellor Angela Siciliano Authority for markets’ regulation Federico Tomassi University, Rome Italy Researcher Donatella Vasselli ISPESL, Italy Almaz Zerejohanennes Student, Italy


Floriana Zezza Association SMILE, Italy Zaga Zerejohanennes Pubbliservices, Italy

Conference observer Carmen Ceinos ECONOMIT, Spain

report on the law conference: ‘icts, social inclusion and ... d4.5 conference report.pdf · ·...

Documents