Inspiring progress
It is hard to believe that a year has passed since we launched our Digital Strategy, setting out our ambition to redesign our digital services and make them more easily accessible than ever before. Through the Civil Service Reform Plan we have improved in a number of key areas, but perhaps nowhere more so than in building our digital capability.
Today, we are reviewing our progress with the publication of the Government Digital Strategy Annual Report. The document makes for inspiring reading, and all civil servants involved with helping the government to become digital by default should feel very proud indeed.
What has been achieved?
In looking back at our achievements on digital it only seems fitting to begin with the creation of GOV.UK. Over the past year the Government Digital Service has worked hard with Departments to create a world-class web presence for the UK Government which makes accessing information simpler, clearer and faster than before, and that is precisely what it has done.
GOV.UK went live in October 2012 and average weekly visits are now running at over 9 million, around double the level of the previous year’s visits to the Directgov and BusinessLink websites (that GOV.UK replaced).
Overall, there were 425 million visits to GOV.UK and 1.2 billion page views in its first year. In April it became the deserving recipient of the Design of the Year Award.
What I find particularly exciting about GOV.UK, though, is that it was built using open source technology – this means that the site can be repurposed by others. The New Zealand government, for example, is now building its own version using some GOV.UK code.
Another important aspect of the Digital Strategy is boosting digital capability, and we have made good progress on this front too. Over the course of the last year, for instance, GDS has provided extensive training to staff involved with service transformation through schemes such as the Service Managers’ Induction and Development Programme.
We’ve also been making steady progress with colleagues in 8 Departments and 14 agencies to transform 25 of the highest volume, highest profile services across Government.
This drive to improve our digital capability has helped to improve the experience of users but, just as importantly, it has also resulted in significant savings for Government. Back in June the Government Digital Service announced £500m in savings had been made in the financial year 2012/13 by stopping projects not aligned to the Government ICT Strategy and IT spend controls and that £42m was saved in 2012/13 by bringing Directgov and BusinessLink websites onto GOV.UK. This is a fantastic achievement and a testament to the contribution of all colleagues involved with this work.
Real progress but work to do
We must also be clear, though, that there are areas where we can still improve, where there is more to do. Today the Cabinet Office is announcing a couple of important updates to the Strategy and, for me, the most significant of these is a renewed commitment to digital inclusion.
Government has sought to address this issue in a number of ways – we know that 18% of adults are not online and many who are don’t have the basic digital skills needed to make the most of it. For the first time, the Digital Strategy will include a specific action point reiterating the Government’s commitment to making sure as many people as possible use the internet and take full advantage of online services.
Twelve months ago we identified the need to provide simpler, clearer and faster government information and services built around user needs and to create digital services so good that people choose to use them. Today’s Annual Report shows where we have made progress, but also where we must continue to improve. So as we move into 2014 I would like to personally thank all those who are helping us to become digital by default. I look forward to celebrating our further success in twelve months’ time. Please do read the Report and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
12 comments
Comment by Martin posted on
It's great to see open source technology being used by the Government. The new website looks fantastic and is so much more intuitive. Is the source code to gov.uk publically available?
Comment by Janet posted on
You have chosen to highlight an 3% increase in the number of visitors "this week" compared to "last week". So what? Next week it might be down 5%, the week after up again by 4% e.t.c. I take it no Government Statisticians were involved in the production of this blog.
Comment by Neil posted on
Can I ask the question - whicxh company was employed to carry out this work?
Comment by katie posted on
Unfortunately the new website doesnt look fantastic on DII. One of the computer systems used by a vast amound of civil service!
Comment by David Wharf posted on
katie - a tip: just refresh the screen (via F5 key) when you get to the website and then - even on DII - you enjoy the real view!
Not ideal, but better than nothing [now, if we can just get the security certificate sorted ... ]
On the blog itself:
It's very good to see the continuing commitment to a Digital approach.
Transforming the transactional element with citizens is a huge task (by volume) which is progressing well.
In parallel, its really important to continue to develop Digital working *within* (and across) government, which is a possibly an even bigger prize - by value
I hope we can keep the focus in 2014 and beyond!
Comment by M Rider posted on
Great progress made with .gov website.
In addition, it would be helpful if it could somehow link up with local councils to cover Key Life Events such as moving home, or changing your name (often after marriage). It would be nice to have a Key Life Events tab where such things can be consolidated as well.
On moving home for example, you need to contact your local council for Council Tax registration, housing & council tax benefits if received, contact with the LEA for schooling, registering for a library ticket and a zillion other things. A single one-stop-shop to incorporate this with the contacts with DWP, HMRC, DVLA etc would be very helpful to the public.
Comment by James Taylor posted on
Thanks for the suggestion Michael. I've passed it on to the GOV.UK content team to consider.
James (Moderator)
Comment by Peter C posted on
We're told there are an average of 9 million visits a week. Then in the next sentence, we're told there were 425 million visitors in the year commencing October 2012, which works out as an average of around 8 million a week. The weekly average since October 2013 must have been well over 9 million, then, if the average now is over 9 million a week. That suggests that a 3% rise from 6.27 million to 6.46 million isn't really worth shouting about.
And is it reasonable to say that "average weekly visits are now running at over 9 million", given that last week the site only had ~6 million visits, and even less than that the week before?
Comment by BobF posted on
I am really pleased to read about the digital progress being made with the GOV.UK site - to get a Design award win is quite something as those guys and galls really know their subject. The use of open source software has many advantages and hopefully its use will be looked at closer for other government departments. One concern I have however is the speed at which the software can be used. IMHO, this is not being given due consideration. When accessing information occasionally the above is all good. When it comes to software used day in day out as a work tool, workflow can be affected dramatically by software which operates over a network. In rough terms I am losing 2 man weeks per year using "click and wait" software compared to previous desktop software solutions. The frustration this causes is not good for health and wellbeing and would never get a design award. A point I would be very pleased if you could bear in mind and spread to any concerned in the hope that future software will have been considered in this way.
Comment by David C posted on
Hi Bob, I work in the office of the CTO in the Government Digital Service (GDS). It's certainly important to ensure that the technology that we use internally within government also meets the needs of users. You may be interested to know that GDS are currently working with Cabinet Office to show a different way of delivering technology to the civil service. You can read about what the team are up to here: https://cabinetofficetechnology.blog.gov.uk/2013/11/13/technology-at-least-as-good-as-people-have-at-home/
Comment by Genny Millinger posted on
GOV.UK is fine for the public, but as a professional (lawyer) I find it extremely frustrating not to be able to find technical information and guidance material which used to be accessible from the individual department's former website. If GOV.UK is now to be the only means of access to departmental information, then it is essential to cater for users at all levels.
Comment by James Taylor posted on
Hi Genny,
Thanks for your feedback on GOV.UK. If you could raise this with the GDS team via the GOV.UK feedback form that would be very helpful: https://www.gov.uk/contact/govuk
Kind regards,
James
(moderator)