UK Government Web Audit

The UK National Audit Office released a report on provision of information via the web by local and national government agencies:

Government has made progress in making a wide range of information available to the public through the internet. But the National Audit Office has found that although internet users rate government websites reasonably well, the quality of those websites has improved only slightly since 2002. ...

The report found that many government websites tend to be text heavy and off-putting to the user. Internet users told the NAO that some government websites are complex to understand and navigate and information useful to them is often hard to find amongst large amounts of policy material not relevant to them. ...

From: "Government on the internet: progress in delivering information and services online", UK National Audit Office, 13 July 2007

Available are:

• Executive Summary (HTML)
• Full Report (790kb)
• LSE and Oxford Internet Institute Research Report (663kb)

As has been done in Australia, the UK government is consolidating content in a few central websites: Directgov and businesslink.gov.uk.

Directgov brings together the widest range of public service information and services online.

Produced by the Central Office of Information, Directgov provides information from across UK government departments on topics ranging from travel safety and parental leave to special educational needs and local NHS services. ...

From: About us, Direct.gov, UK Government

The national Business Link website is a truly "joined-up" government website. Through the "Business.Gov" programme, it draws on the expertise of key government bodies that deal with business, such as Companies House, the BERR, the Environment Agency, the Department for Education and Skills, the Health and Safety Executive, the Home Office, HM Revenue & Customs, and more than 40 others too numerous to mention. It also enjoys the expertise of some of the most respected organisations in the not-for-profit sector, including Acas, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Cranfield School of Management. Around 450 individuals across government and the not-for-profit sector help to ensure that the information you read on the website is up to date, and around 120 updates are made every working day. ...

From: BusinessLink, UK Govenment