Information websites among worst in e-Government

Websites
offering information and services for the jobless and people on benefits are
among the worst in e-Government a new report reveals.

The
analysis, conducted by website-testing company Business2WWW, found that users
of sites such as www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk
(Job Centre), www.worktrain.gov.uk
(National Jobs and Learning Website) and www.dwp.gov.uk  (Department for Work and Pensions) can be
faced with a number of errors when trying to access vital information and
services.

A
combination of simple website errors, such as missing files, poor management of
website structures, illegal characters used in web addresses, lack of
compliance with the Government’s own search index system, and hosting websites
on servers that are not able to cope with demand, are the most common causes of
problems.

This
new research comes just days after Phil Woolas MP, deputy leader of the House
of Commons, reported that 68 per cent of government services are now online.
All government services are due to be online by 2005.

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Nicholas
Le Seelleur, director of Business2WWW, said: “The Government has achieved a lot
by placing much of its information and services online. However, getting
services online is one thing. Ensuring that citizens can actually access vital
information and services is quite another."

By Quentin Reade