A COUNCIL has been invited to send two representatives on a five-day study tour to see how the Americans and Canadians have used electronic technology in providing services to the community.

A COUNCIL has been invited to send two representatives on a five-day study tour to see how the Americans and Canadians have used electronic technology in providing services to the community.

The estimated cost to Babergh of the trip will be £1,000 per person, of which £500 is the flight cost and £500 is the accommodation cost based on £100 per night.

Sponsors, including Microsoft, are meeting other costs of the tour.

Babergh is the only district council in the shortlist of those invited to go on the trip and the council's officers have been heavily involved in the national group Promoting Excellent Government (PEG).

The party will spend five days in Canada and the US in late November and will be looking for information on such issues as the business case for electronic service delivery, community leadership and social inclusion and the benefits of working in partnerships.

The information they bring back from the trip will form part of a national conference to be held in March/April 2004.

Babergh's full council meeting has agreed that John Raine, the council's head of HR and organisational development, and councillor Duncan Read, the chairman of its e-government steering group should accept the invitation.

Councillors were told that any expenses could be met out of the council's existing budget including money already allocated for the chief executive Pat Rockall to attend an annual meeting of local authority chief executives to which she is not now going.