Each of the following chapters closes with suggestions for how the website could be improved. With a final push for a digital switchover of the majority of public services¹⁵, a renewed emphasis must now be placed on what consumers need from Directgov, and how they want to access and experience services. For a genuinely consumer-centred approach to drive reform, the Government’s existing approach to online public services must be re-examined. The report concludes with a summary of our recommendations and an invitation to debate a new approach to digital public services.

15. BIS and DCMS, Digital Britain final report, June 2009

Many of these frustrations originate from a lack of clarity about what the website actually offers, how it delivers services and information, and what is expected from consumers as they use the site⁸.

The website says it allows ‘easy access to the public services you use and the information you need’ and describes itself as a ‘superstore’⁹. However, on closer inspection, it is clear that not all public services are included; information is inconsistent across the UK’s devolved administrations and the way people are able to interact with different public services varies greatly between applications. There are supposed to be different services for the devolved administrations but there is a lack of signposting. For example, when looking for child care providers, the user is presented with a search form for England only. There are links to websites for each of the devolved nations, but for Wales, this returns to the same English form.

Previous research highlights important areas of concern from consumers. This includes the National Audit Office’s set of commissioned reports on Government on the Internet¹⁰ whose focus groups found internal search engines to be unhelpful, and research found a limited amount of fully online processes. Additionally, the DWP’s regular monitoring reveals that over a third of people could not find all the information they wanted on Directgov¹¹ ; recent research on the information provided for jobseekers found users confused and frustrated by the presentation of content¹² ; and perceptions of quality compares unfavourably with commercial sites¹³.

Figures for 2007 show that while 72 per cent of internet users had used the internet to get information about a Government or local council product or service, only 32 per cent had used it to interact with them¹⁴.

8. These points closely relate to Clay Shirky’s three rules for successful social media: a plausible promise, an effective tool and an acceptable bargain with the users. (see Shirky, C, Here Comes Everybody, 2008)
9. Visit these pages for the online advert: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/SiteInformation/DG_4004497
10. National Audit Office, Government on the internet: progress in delivering information and services online, HC529 Session 2006-2007, July 2007
11. Department for Work and Pensions, Directgov’s regular online research 2009 only 65 per cent find all, or most of what they wanted. FOI request Consumer Focus, 3 April 2009
12. National Audit Office, 2009. Department for Work and Pensions: communicating with customers. London: National Audit Office.
13. National Audit Office, 2007. Government on the internet: progress in delivering information and services online. London: National Audit Office.
14. Dutton, W. and Helsper, J., 2007. The internet in Britain. Oxford: Oxford Internet Institute

The idea is that improvements in services are led by public need, as opposed to technology’s capabilities. In theory, this should be good for consumers with improved customer experience and the creation of more responsive services with, presumably, cost savings. A cross-departmental process for achieving transformation in services was put into place in 2005.

Following this in 2006, Sir David Varney led a review of service delivery which focused on key opportunities for delivering services in a more responsive way to consumers. The recommendations from his Service Transformation report³, included making the Directgov and Businesslink (the Directgov equivalent for business customers)⁴ sites primary channels for Government information and transactions. This recommendation was enshrined in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review Public Service Agreement target to ‘migrate more than 95 per cent of the total identified websites to Directgov and Businesslink.gov by 31 March 2011’⁵.

This saw a dramatic reduction in a number of different Government websites (considered superfluous or defunct), the idea being that consumers would now use Directgov as the first port of call for any Government or public service information or transaction.

Users should soon be able to access information on all Government services, complete some transactions, and be directed elsewhere for other information and support. Directgov attracts almost 10 million visits a month⁶, making it one of the fastest growing websites in the UK. Its information is also available to a limited extent on mobile phones and digital TV. Figures from the Department of Work and Pension (DWP) show the website cost £13.1 million to run for the year 2007-08⁷.

1. HM Government, Transformational Government: Enabled by Technology, 2005
2. HoC Hansard Written Answers, 22 Apr 2009: Column 764W
3. HM Treasury, Service transformation: A better service for citizens and businesses, a better deal for the taxpayer, December 2006
4. Business Link. Available at: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk
5. HM Treasury, Meeting the aspirations of the British people, pre-budget report and Comprehensive Spending Review, 2007
6. Directgov web statistics show visits at 12,470,557 in July 2009, audited by ABC Electronic. These figures exclude partner websites such as jobcentreplus.gov.uk
7. HoC Hansard Written Answers, 22 Apr 2009: Column 764W

The digital revolution has not only made life faster, more efficient and allowed for greater collaboration, it has also altered the way in which people communicate with each other in terms of the timing of information, language and expectations we have from different websites and internet functions. People are now much more likely to interact with website editors and contributors and generate their own content to share with contacts in a series of conversations.
Against this backdrop, Directgov steadfastly remains a one-way broadcaster, with a distinct lack of response mechanisms and opportunities for interacting with other users. Consequently, it is out of touch with its users. To be genuinely transformational, as the strategy title suggests it would like to be, Directgov must understand the new relationships people forge with services via the web, and work out how to respond to these expectations. If Government wants to engage with citizens and create better services and relationships, we suggest opening up communication to show there is a genuine readiness to listen. The alternative is turning consumers off.

We question the sheer amount of information included, and suggest information is selected on the basis of consumers’ expectations and does not try to replicate other trusted sources. We also recommend a new approach to tailoring information and services to consumers, based on their preferences and location. Perhaps, for example, having a personalised home page or space to keep records of previous transactions.

We would also like to see improvements to existing search and navigation facilities based on an understanding of the way people actually use the web. Directgov would benefit from being more responsive to users, and giving them appropriate opportunities to add value to the content and design of the information and functions on the site.

A good example of this is the recent global outbreak of Swine Flu which during one week in May 2009, saw UK searches increase 58-fold in a week²⁹. A large number of these searches led people to the relevant Wikipedia page. Wikipedia³⁰ is an online encyclopaedia written collaboratively by users and named editors. So if the key aim is to get the right information to people, perhaps public health officials, content editors at Directgov and NHS Direct should be working in tamden with Wikipedia to make sure that Wikipedia is providing the very best healthcare advice on how to deal with the virus.

This example shows that people are simply becoming accustomed to looking for information on the web in ways that best suit them and appear for whatever reason, to be more likely to go to a website like Wikipedia than Directgov.

While raising obvious questions about where responsibility lies for information and issues around malicious editing, it also suggests a different role for Government; one where instead of trying to hold onto information, it is watching other activity on the web and making sure it is involved as a key voice. This fits with the Central Office of Information’s guidance for civil servants on engaging with social media³¹.

It is really important to understand how people are now using the web to access information. Government needs to think carefully about how to design Directgov in such a way that it becomes renowned for enabling consumers to find information easily, moulding itself around consumer behaviours and expectations, rather than imposing behaviours that work for the provider.

28. Dutton, W.H and Helsper, E.J, 2007. The internet in Britain. Oxford: Oxford Internet Institute
29. Hitwise Intelligence at http://weblogs.hitwise.com/robin-goad/2009/05/swine_flu_searches_increase_58.html
30. Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
31. Central Office of Information: Engaging through social media: a guide for civil servants, 2009

Clearly, public and Government services online are different to commercial or independent websites. However, the Government can learn much from the private, third sector and civil society in terms of not only website architecture but also the way people use websites. Directgov’s users are familiar with using the web to book a flight or hotel, bank, buy books and shop. They are willing to complain, feedback and respond (see eBay, Amazon and Tripadvisor⁴³ websites) and contribute ideas. Asking consumers to comment and rate website pages on Directgov could add great insight into how information could be better structured. The developments outlined above do more than just engage consumers: they create value and are essential for driving progress. Comparing the dynamic and creative nature of the websites highlighted here to Directgov’s offering illuminates just how flat and staid Directgov is. Moreover, the more consumers experience and participate in web 2.0 sites, the more irrelevant Directgov will feel to them.

Consumer Focus recommends Directgov work with and learn from the tide of new practices on the web in an appropriate way to accelerate, support and enable innovation.

43. Tripadvisor. Available at: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ [Accessed 9 September 2009].

The search engine on Directgov seems to work reasonably well but can go wrong. Our early testing found the first response to a simple search to find out how to give blood returned an out of date and irrelevant entry from 2004 called ‘Donor ban to protect blood supply’²⁶, this has since been rectified by Directgov so that a more relevant entry appears first. Research from the London School of Economics and Oxford Internet Institute found the Directgov search engine routinely finds over 500-plus results, and, instead of working through the results, people tend to leave the site and go to Google where results are perceived to be better organised²⁷.

An entirely independent demonstration site shows how this works in practice, Directionlessgov (see www.directionlessgov.com) was set up by members of the Democracy.org group and pits the ability of the government site’s internal search engine against Google’s search capability in a site which cost very little time and money to build. The site raises several issues beyond the direct comparison of search engines, not least on cost. It suggests that the internet already has existing tools which people able to use easily to find information that are more effective than Government-procured functions.

This reveals a difficulty – everything is in one place, but it is a confusing place. The question then is, can it deliver added value by giving consumers something more than just a search engine?  Proponents of the service would argue that just to have every public service in one recognisable site is a valuable thing in itself, but we feel that this is not enough on its own and that the emphasis needs to shift from thinking about what the service is to what people want and need from it.

25. Department for Work and Pensions, following FOI request from Consumer Focus 3 April 2009
26. Accessed 31 March 2009
27. Dutton, W.H. and Helsper, E.J., 2007. The internet in Britain. Oxford: Oxford Internet Institute, p.66.

• The ‘home and community’ do-it-online page has a link to voting at the top, which makes sense, but this is followed with a link to buying a map from the Ordnance Survey²¹
• The area labelled ‘find out about your neighbourhood ²²  has links to statistical profiles of public census information, which may be interesting to some but these are given prominence over more primary concerns such as, for example, finding the nearest post office.

Much content duplicates the work of existing trusted sources and is, arguably, at odds with consumer expectations. For example, in the parenting section²³ , the information on statutory maternity pay is relevant, but consumers are unlikely to turn to the Government for information on how to conceive as there are so many other trusted sources such as NHS Direct, or self-supporting parenting sites like netmums²⁴.

The architecture of the website is even more confusing for people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland than in England. They are told there are different services for the devolved administrations but there is not any clear signposting to them. While there is information about different governance structures, there is not any specific information relating to specific themes. 

The amount of content brings us back to an earlier point in chapter 1: information is included if it is easily available and possible for Directgov to provide, rather than because consumers expect or demand it.

21. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_4017525 [Accessed 9 September 2009]
22. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_4017923 [Accessed 9 September 2009]
23. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/HavingABaby/index.htm [Accessed 9 September 2009]
24. Netmums. Available at: http://www.netmums.com [Accessed 9 September 2009]

We will ensure the consumer perspective is included right from the start, so that we understand how people use the internet and digital services in their daily lives, what their expectations of digital public services are, and how willing they are to engage in developing new services.

Consumer Focus will provide a space in which the leading innovators of and commentators on digital services can come together with consumers to discuss the future context for delivering digital public services.  

A series of workshops early in the New Year will aim to identify ways to engage people in digital public service development. Feedback on this site will also inform these workshops.  Please sign up here if you’d like to participate, or just keep in touch with the campaign.

You can also send comments and ideas directly to liz.coll@consumerfocus.org.uk

• ‘Can I recycle it?’ inputting a postcode reveals what a council recycles
• ‘UK cycling’ a one-stop site for planning a cycling route for different skill levels
• ‘Catchment areas’ showing the boundaries of school catchment areas, including where there is potential uncertainty

In 2009, the Ministry of Justice launched the Public Experience website⁴¹ which aims to use public insight and experiences for improving public services. Examples of ideas submitted include buying pro-rata season tickets on public transport for people who are regular but not daily commuters; and removing the need to register lots of personal data before receiving basic information from NHS24 in Scotland. These examples show how users’ perspectives on public service can result in innovative ideas. This might be a good starting point for exploring changes to Directgov.

These developments suggest that an appetite for innovation is emerging in Government and among citizens. They also suggest that Government is positioning itself as a medium for empowering others to innovate and co-produce services by opening up its data for a wider use⁴². This allows for much more good practice to surface than would happen if Government was solely responsible for innovative public services.

39. Directgov Innovate. Available at: http://innovate.direct.gov.uk/ [Accessed 9 September 2009].
40. Link no longer available
41. Public Experience. Available at: http://publicexperience.com [Accessed 9 September 2009]
42. A message central to the Power of Information: an independent review for the Cabinet Office by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg, 2007