Lane-Fox to spearhead DirectGov transformation
The Cabinet Office has tasked the Government’s UK digital champion Martha Lane-Fox with driving a “transformation and redirection” of centralised public services portal DirectGov.
DirectGov will have a new purpose in the Coalition Government’s drive to make efficiency savings through helping to get more people online, and by providing information and services that are easier and accessible to use.
As such, it will join the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group, with the Cabinet Office taking responsibility for DirectGov from the Department of Work and Pensions with immediate effect.
It will sit in the Government Communications team headed by Matt Tee, permanent secretary for Government communications, and overseen by the Efficiency Board, co-chaired by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Tee, said, “People are changing the way they interact with organisations and each other. Government needs not only to keep up with peoples’ habits but to lead innovations that will improve their lives. DirectGov will enable the Government to consolidate its online identity and interact with people in a better more accessible way.”
The decision goes some way to answering doubt about the future of DirectGov, following the Government’s announcement last month that it intends to rationalise its 820 websites, such as businesslink.gov.uk and ukti.gov.uk, as part of an efficiency review.
This will report in time for September’s Spending Review and is expected to cut the cost of remaining sites by 50% by moving to common infrastructures, the Cabinet Office said.
This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk
