Government Affairs Blog

Government go for 'supersites'

Anyone who gets their information about government activity online - and I suspect that's most of us - will have an interest in the ongoing review of the government's websites.

Earlier this month the first annual report on 'Transformational Government' announced the closure of 551 government websites. Some of the information on these sites will simply disappear from the internet, it seems, while 'information of continuing relevance' from closed sites will transfer to www.direct.gov.uk and www.businesslink.gov.uk.

Following on the heels of the - only partially successful - attempt by Parliament to make its online content less labyrinthine this seems to be Whitehall's effort to create a more user-friendly web presence. In that objective we can only wish them well, as all too often the current plethora of sites leaves users of all kinds, from public affairs profesionals to party politicians to the public, dazed and confused when it comes to digging out the latest word on a particular topic - torn between umbrella sites such as Directgov, departmental sites and agency mini-sites. Often the best bet is just to google the issue in question and hope an offical webpage is one of the results which comes up (or restrict the search to gov.uk addresses of course).

According to the Cabinet Office, 'the move is the natural next step for Government as citizens shift their interest to 'supersites' such as the Directgov and www.bbc.co.uk websites'.

The key is developing a structure for online services which has consistency and quality control without log jams developing at the upload / approval stage. For all our sakes, let's hope they can pull it off.

Click here to read the news story and here for the full report