The number of high-quality local government websites has
increased by 65% over the past year, according to the local
authority IT managers' group Socitm.
Research into 468 local authority websites by Socitm, published in
the report Better connected 2005, found that 30% of websites had
improved their position in the four-level ranking system.
Top-rated "transactional" websites have a significant amount of
interactivity and are customer-centred, the report said. These
types of websites have increased from 23 in 2004 to 38 this year.
Socitm ranked the remaining websites as content plus; content; and
promotional, in descending order. Only 23 websites were promotional
only, the study found.
A key focus for councils in the future will be marketing the
services available on their websites to exploit potential
efficiency gains, the report said.
Transactional websites can help councils meet the needs of the
central government Efficiency Review because they can transfer
interaction from staffed council departments to automated
self-service websites, said Martin Greenwood, programme manager for
Socitm Insight and author of the report.
"This shift will not take place unless websites have transactional
capacity, work in practice and start to attract business in
sufficient volumes," he said.
"Councils need to collect more evidence about usage of websites in
their areas. They also need to dedicate their efforts to getting
the quality of the product right at a more detailed level."