First Department Websites Move To GOV.UK

GOV.UK, the new portal for all citizen-facing government online services, has welcomed its first departments onto the platform.

The homepages of the Department for Transport and the Department for Communities and Local Government can now be accessed on GOV.UK. Homepages of three associated agencies and bodies – the Driving Standards Agency, the Building Regulations Advisory Committee (BRAC), and the Planning Inspectorate – can also now be found on the service.

They can be found in the Inside Government section of the site, which went live this morning.

Driving GOV.UK to the future

“The driving principle behind GOV.UK is that it should meet the needs of users and what they want to do, and not how government wants them to do it,” said minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude.

“It is a simpler, clearer and faster way for people to find government services and information online. Having launched GOV.UK, we are pushing ahead with moving departmental corporate and policy information on to the single domain, making this information both easier to access and more open, and saving millions of pounds for the taxpayer.”

Launched on 17 October, GOV.UK replaced the Directgov and Business Link sites.

According to the Cabinet Office, the savings from GOV.UK and from closing the DirectGov and Business Link sites should hit at least £50m annually.

GOV.UK is part of the Coalition’s bid to improve transparency and openness, in which it promises to open up more data to citizens.

How well do you know open source software? Take our quiz!