Digital and technology

A single site for government: gov.uk

my-illustration-backdrop gov.uk is easy to follow but can improve how it explains devolution. Peter Cheney reviews Whitehall’s new central site.

The Cabinet Office’s Government Digital Service (GDS) is now one year into its major project to centralise online government information but readers from Northern Ireland may need to check out several sources to find the right information.

gov.uk was piloted last February and formally launched in October. It replaces the Directgov and Business Link portals, and has a new section (Inside Government) on the workings of Whitehall.

The home page has links to the most visited sections and has answers to every day queries about VAT rates, passport fees and jobseeker’s allowance.

As the site is owned by the UK Government, its content covers its public services, which sometimes only operate in England. Devolution has complicated how the UK is governed and this means that communicating policy has also become more complex.

“Some departments, like the Ministry of Defence, cover the whole UK,” the site acknowledges. “Others don’t – the Department for Work and Pensions doesn’t cover Northern Ireland. This is because some aspects of government are devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

Health, education, culture, the environment, transport and local government are highlighted as examples.

Most pages, though, have a simple and informative writing style, almost like a manual with numbered sections and parts. Red warning signs and blue information logos highlight important points.

Inside Government is a major innovation. Previously, all departments had their own websites and corporate identities, with wide variations in quality and how information was organised and presented.

GDS staff are now standardising the 24 ministerial department websites and transferring them to gov.uk (the same process is being repeated for around 300 public bodies, including HMRC). Most departments will abandon their logos and adopt a black-and-white royal coat of arms.

Again, jargon-free writing gives pages a user-friendly feel.

For example, government policy in Northern Ireland is summed up in four points: rebalancing the economy; bringing communities together; keeping Northern Ireland safe; and supporting political stability and the institutions.

Each department sums up its basic remit, its key ministers and officials, and its main contact details. Documents are organised into four main categories, which also feed into cross-government search pages: announcements, consultations, publications and statistics.

Listing all press releases in one place means that contradictions between government policies may be easier to spot. This has already occurred in the Executive when Danny Kennedy and Alex Attwood put out differing statements on welfare reform. At Westminster, Vince Cable and George Osborne differ over the economy and tensions between the Conservatives and Lib Dems occasionally become public.

The project is expected to save at least £50 million annually.

The typeface (New Transport) is a slightly modified version of Transport, which was introduced for road signs in the 1950s and 1960s. One of Transport’s original designers, 76-year old Margaret Calvert, was brought back as a consultant for the new font.

Over the next year, the GDS plans to include new sections on UK Government activity around the world, the history of government, and how to participate in government and society.

The national news?

Whitehall’s press offices are now presenting all press releases with good colour stock photos and short headlines. However, it is not always clear if their content is truly national.

Most of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s work takes place in England but this is not, at present, explained on its home page.

The Department for Transport will “plan and invest in transport infrastructure to keep the UK on the move.” Civil aviation and shipping policy is consistent across the UK but Northern Ireland has power over its own ports, roads and railways.

Many members of the public still assume that a decision announced in Westminster will automatically affect them. Hopes and fears can therefore be unfairly raised.

Anecdotally, in 2010, many families worried that their children would be affected by a major rise in student fees. This applied to students going to English universities but fees were effectively frozen for local students a year later.

Back in 2008, the Home Energy Saving Programme was announced with a pledge to save households “over £300 every year”. This was initially reported as applying in Northern Ireland but further enquiries found that no household in the province would benefit.

As most people do not have the time to work out who makes the decisions in a particular area, press officers and journalists have a responsibility to explain that.

Guidance on devolution is published in four sections of gov.uk (i.e. for the Cabinet Office, Northern Ireland Office, Scotland Office and Wales Office) but could be better integrated into the sections for other departments.

The province’s small size is part of the problem. With just 2.9 per cent of the UK population, it is easily overlooked.

gov.uk is very much a work in progress and suggestions are also welcomed. The best way to provide feedback is via www.gov.uk/feedback/contact as comments will be tracked by the customer response system and sent to the appropriate person or team. If the law is “very different” in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the GDS will “make reference to this and provide a link to the information provided by those administrations.”

The process is due to finish in 2014. “Our intention,” the GDS states, “is that any citizen in the UK can start their journey on gov.uk, and find their way to devolved information if required.”

Few details on merging local websites

The Northern Ireland Civil Service led the way with www.nidirect.gov.uk and standardised logos but has not taken the next step of consolidating websites. Most of the Executive’s websites were designed under direct rule and their formats have seen little change since then.

The Department of Finance and Personnel, responsible for public sector ICT, says that it intends to consolidate the Executive’s websites but has not confirmed when this would take place.

“Scoping work is being undertaken on this significant project and until that has been completed and agreed, it is impossible to commit to a timescale,” a spokeswoman said. When agendaNi pressed the department on when the scoping work will be completed, it was referred back to the original statement.

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