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Directgov is the UK government's website for citizens, providing a single point of access to public sector information and services. The content is developed by representatives from the many government departments that contribute to the site, working with a central Directgov team.

Directgov receives more than five million visits a month, from around four million unique users. [1] In September 2007, the site received its one hundred millionth visitor since its launch in April 2004. [2]

1 Services
2 Convergence
3 History
4 Detractors
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Services

Currently the website is primarily an information resource, providing users with officially written advice and information which is targeted to specific topics (e.g. motoring, money) and audiences (e.g. disabled people, parents). It also provides directories of government departments, agencies and local councils. There is also a Welsh language version of the site.

Over time, access to online government transactions and public services will be added to the site. The site currently links to a number of online transactions and forms such as applying for a passport, buying a television licence, car licensing, registering to vote, and completing a Self Assessment tax return form.

Since 2006, users in England have been able to find out about a wide range of services provided by local councils in their area, from reporting illegally dumped rubbish to renewing a library book. Direct links to each type of service were collected from every local authority through the Local Directgov programme.

A Directgov service is also available on digital interactive television (DiTV) through Sky Digital and Virgin Media, as well as on mobile phones by typing www.direct.gov.uk/mobile into the phone's browser.

DirectgovKids is a separate website designed to help children aged 5 to 11 find out about the world around them, by exploring the places and people in their local community. The Flash animated site is based around a cartoon globe, with interactive buildings including a police station, a town hall and a school. [3]

[edit] Convergence

As part of the Transformational Government strategy, an annual report was published in January 2007 stating that hundreds of government websites would be shut down "to make access to information easier" for people. In future, most government information will be streamlined through two main 'supersites' – either Directgov (for citizens) or Businesslink.gov.uk (for businesses). [4]

Of 951 sites, only 26 will definitely stay, 551 will definitely close and hundreds more are expected to follow. About £9 million a year was expected to be saved over three years by cutting back on sites that do not serve a useful purpose. [5]

[edit] History

Directgov was launched in April 2004, replacing the UK online portal. Rather than just providing links to government departments as UK online had done, Directgov carried its own material, designed around users’ needs. The first three sections were for motorists, disabled people and parents. [6] [7]

Since 2004, the site has grown from 800,000 visits a month to over five million, and involves 18 government departments. [8] DirectgovKids was launched in March 2007.

In April 2006, Directgov moved from the e-Government Unit (eGU) within the Cabinet Office to become part of the Central Office of Information (COI), an executive agency of the Cabinet Office. [9] As of 1 April 2008, Directgov will transfer responsibility from COI to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), in a Machinery of Government change. [10]

[edit] Detractors

In 2005, several internet activists affiliated with mySociety wrote Directionlessgov.com to demonstrate that they could build something better in under an hour, by using a simple web page that linked to the Google search engine. Directionlessgov was later upgraded to compare the results of Directgov’s own search engine with the Google results side by side. In discussion, one of the authors wrote:

To me the [point we are] making is not that direct.gov should be licensing Google's search... it is that direct.gov should not exist at all - in practice everybody types what they want to do into Google. With the budget saved... instead optimise text and titles on government websites i.e. do some Search Engine Optimisation. Run user tests to find the terms that people search for when wanting to do things that government can help them with. Arrange that Google, Yahoo and MSN searches for those terms take them to the correct site. [11]

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in August 2007, the chief executive of Directgov, Jayne Nickalls, responded:

Directionless does work a lot of the time. But it misses the point that Directgov joins up information for the citizen in a way that they understand. If you do a Google search you will get the information from a number of places and the citizen has to do the linking up for themself. [12]