First departmental sites move to Gov.uk

Two government departments have migrated onto the Gov.uk site, as part of the first moves to bring all departmental information under a single domain.

The home pages of the Department for Transport and the Department for Communities and Local Government, including the Driving Standards Agency, the Building Regulations Advisory Committee (BRAC) and the Planning Inspectorate, are now available on Gov.uk.

Over the next 18 months, everything published by central government will come under the Gov.uk single domain, with the exception of a few specifically exempted websites. It is estimated the move will save £50m per year.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said: “Last month we launched Gov.uk, and now we are pushing ahead with moving departmental corporate and policy information onto the single domain.”

The total cost of running government sites was just under £108m for 2011/2012, according to the annual Reporting on progress: Central government websites findings from the Cabinet Office.

We are pushing ahead with moving departmental corporate and policy information onto Gov.uk

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude

Cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood said a single domain would enable a more joined-up civil service. \

“It will become much easier for civil servants to understand the wider context when they are developing and implementing policy and for the public to access the information they need,” he said.

The news follows the closure last month of previous information portal Directgov and the Business Link site – which have been incorporated on the single domain.

So far, 1,700 government sites have been axed as part of Martha Lane Fox’s review of public sector digital services in October 2010, which recommended the government should have a single domain for its digital interactions. 

In September it was reported that 41 sites were closed last year, bringing the total number down to 383.