Directgov

Directgov

Logo of Directgov
URL	direct.gov.uk
Slogan	Public services all in one place
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Government information
Registration	No
Available language(s)	English and Welsh
Content license	Crown copyright
Owner	HM Government
Created by	UK government departments
Launched	April 1, 2004; 7 years ago (2004-04-01)
Current status	Online
Replaced Ukonline

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Directgov is the UK government's digital service for people in the United Kingdom, providing a single point of access to public sector information and services.

The content is developed by government departments, working with a central Directgov team. The main outlet is via a website, though content and services are also delivered via mobile and interactive TV.

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

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.

Application for documents

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.

Local services

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.

Mobile version

A Directgov service is also available on mobile phones by typing direct.gov.uk/mobile into the phone's browser. It was also on analogue teletext pages and through digital interactive television on Freeview channel 106 until 1 July 2010, Sky until 22 December 2010^[3] and Virgin Media until 31 March 2011.

Children

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.^[4]

Disabled people

Directgov also provides a service that covers country wide customized maps for Blue Badge Holders with different base colors reflecting councils policies on Blue Badge Holder's parking. In addition to council policies this service also pin points the location of different features specific to disabled community.^[5]

History

Launch

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 300,000 visits a month to over ten million, and involves 18 government departments.^[8] DirectgovKids was launched in March 2007.

Central Office of Information

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 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).^[8]

It was reported at the launch of the strategy that of 951 sites, only 26 would definitely stay, 551 would definitely close and hundreds more are expected to follow.^[10] 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.^[11] However it emerged shortly afterwards that this was misleading, as a large proportion of the 'blacklisted' sites had no plans for closure.

Department of Work and Pensions

As of 1 April 2008, Directgov moved again, from COI to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), in a machinery of government change.^[12]

By the end of the fourth quarter of 2009 Directgov reported traffic statistics of circa 20 million hits a month of which over 8 million are unique users.^[13]

A national TV and radio advertising campaign was launched on the 4 January 2010 featuring a number of celebrities including Suggs, Honor Blackman and Kelly Brook.^[14]

Budget documents

In a strategic partnership with HM Treasury and BBC, Directgov has twice hosted the Budget Day documents^[15] in March 2010 and June 2010. On Budget Day Directgov also provides real time updates from the Chancellor's speech on Twitter with the account @Directgov and using a custom Twitter widget.^[16] This strategic partnership was extended to cover the Comprehensive Spending Review on October 20, 2010. Citizen facing content for the spending review is to be found at http://www.direct.gov.uk/spendingreview which hosts the full documents.

Directgov will no longer host documents for the Budget from March 23, 2011. HM Treasury will now be the sole government host. Instead Directgov will focus more closely on editorial which communicates what the budget means for you. Coverage of the 2011 Budget can be found here http://www.direct.gov.uk/budget2011.

Government Digital Service

On July 20, 2010, Directgov was moved back to the Cabinet Office from the Department of Work and Pensions.^[17] From April 1, 2011 Directgov will become part of the Government Digital Service, overseen by the Public Expenditure Executive (Efficiency & Reform) which is co-chaired by Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander.

Social media

Directgov is active on Twitter,^[18] Facebook^[19] and on YouTube,.^[20] Engagement and interaction may develop further in the future following the Spending Challenge^[21] website developed by Directgov in partnership with HM Treasury, No. 10 Downing Street and the COI.

Comment on this Article

In April 2010 Directgov launched a "Comment on this Article" feature on each page. Users can give articles five ratings:

• Very useful • Quite useful • Unsure • Not very useful • Not at all useful

Directgov also invites users to leave comments (up to 500 characters) about how the page could be improved, but asks that users don't leave any personal details like name and address.

The data captured from Comment on this Article will be used for customer insight and product improvement. An overview of monthly ratings is available here http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/SiteInformation/DG_188378.

There was also a Directgov TV channel on Freeview at number 106. It closed down in 2010.

Criticism

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.^[22]

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.^[23]

See also

• e-Government
• Central Office of Information

References

1. ^ "Web statistics". Directgov. http://direct.gov.uk/en/SiteInformation/DG_10036216. Retrieved 2008-04-13. 
2. ^ "Directgov hits one hundred million mark". Central Office of Information. 2007-10-02. http://www.coi.gov.uk/press.php?release=199. Retrieved 2008-04-13. 
3. ^ "Directgov shuts Sky interactive service". Broadband TV News. 8 December 2010. http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2010/12/08/directgov-shuts-sky-interactive-service/. 
4. ^ Ian Williams (26 March 2007). "Directgov launches site for young citizens". VNuNet.com. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2186457/uk-government-launches-site. 
5. ^ "?". http://bluebadge.direct.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2010. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ Direct to your destination Michael Cross; guardian.co.uk. 4 March 2004
7. ^ "Big changes for government site" BBC News; 1 March 2004
8. ^ ^{a b} "Transformational Government 2006: Enabled by Technology" Chief Information Officer Council, January 2007
9. ^ Directgov move to COI Cabinet Office, 27 March 2006
10. ^ The doomed government websites BBC News, 11 January 2007
11. ^ Government to close 551 websites BBC News, 11 January 2007
12. ^ Interview:Jayne Nickalls, chief executive of Directgov Michael Cross; The Guardian. 22 August 2007
13. ^ Directgov Site Information
14. ^ "Advert". Directgov. http://direct.gov.uk/advert. Retrieved 27 August 2010. 
15. ^ "Budget". Directgov. http://direct.gov.uk/budget. Retrieved 27 August 2010. 
16. ^ "Directgov Twitter Widget". Directgov. http://innovate-apps.direct.gov.uk/widgets/twitter/. Retrieved 27 August 2010. 
17. ^ "Directgov joins the Cabinet Office efficiency drive" Cabinet Office, 20 July 2010
18. ^ "Get short, timely messages from Directgov". Twitter.com. http://twitter.com/directgov. Retrieved 27 August 2010. 
19. ^ "This is the official Facebook page for Directgov". facebook.com. http://facebook.com/directgov. Retrieved 7 January 2011. 
20. ^ "Like Sign In or Sign Up now! GCSE results 2010 - advice on sixth form, A levels, NVQ, BTEC, diplomas, apprenticeships and jobs". 24 August 2010. http://www.youtube.com/directgovuk. Retrieved 27 August 2010. 
21. ^ "How can we re-think government to deliver more for less?". Spending Challenge. HM Treasury. http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/. Retrieved 27 August 2010. 
22. ^ Directionless.gov rides again e-Government@large, 24 November 2005
23. ^ Interview:Jayne Nickalls, chief executive of Directgov Michael Cross; The Guardian. 22 August 2007

External links

• Official website
• Directgov disabled people and carers
• DirectgovKids
• Directionlessgov comparison of Directgov and Google
• NIDirect
• Directgov Budget content and documents
• Directgov Budget Twitter widget
• Official Directgov content for mobile phones
• Alternative Directgov content for mobile phones

Video clips

• Directgov YouTube channel