Effectiveness of OneInbox

Mr Leon Perera asked the Prime Minister (a) what is the total amount of public funds spent on developing and maintaining OneInbox; (b) how many people signed up for OneInbox as at 31 March 2017; (c) what are the main reasons for the low take-up rate; and (d) whether the Government plans to develop a new system to replace paper notices sent to citizens.

OneInbox was in operation from December 2013 to June 2017. It offered free digital mailbox services for citizens to receive Government correspondences electronically. The total development and maintenance cost of OneInbox was approximately $7 million.

OneInbox was discontinued due to the low take-up rate. This was despite several publicity campaigns to increase awareness and adoption among citizens. As at end of March 2017, OneInbox had a total of 51,807 subscribers and delivered 296,418 digital letters. These subscribers made up less than 2% of SingPass users.

OneInbox had a low take-up rate because it did not offer significant value to the subscribers. Firstly, OneInbox was designed as a single-function digital mailbox service, which did not encourage sign-ups. Secondly, agencies already have well developed digital channels to serve the public, hence reducing the need for an overall Government channel. Thirdly, the traffic volume of digital letters was not high, whereby a typical individual receives less than 10 letters from the Government annually.

In being innovative in exploiting technology, we would not always succeed in all that we do. We have to take risks. As part of our digital Government drive, we will continue to review and adjust our strategies and make it easier for citizens to use Government services.