Digital Progress Report Released By GDS

The Government Digital Service (GDS) has released the latest of its quarterly reports detailing the progress of the government’s digital progress and what the service is working on in coming months.

The plans to move 330 government websites into one location at GOV.UK are now expected to take longer than predicted, with timings expected to slip between July and December this year.

GDS said in the report that it expected 160 sites to have moved to the central location by the end of April, but the plans to complete the move by July have changed.

“We are still on track to achieve this for over 75% of the sites. However, for around 70 of the more complex websites, we’ve decided we want to take more time to transition,” claimed the organisation.

“This will mean that we meet specialist users’ needs fully. It will also allow us to build additional functionality, like new ‘finder’ tools and a better organisation homepage template, so we maintain a high-quality user experience,” it added.

Digital Plans Going Forward

Among the plans detailed in the report was the aim to make four more exemplar services live between April and June, including:

• patents renewal
• carer’s allowance claim
• electoral registration
• lasting power of attorney.

Four more will be taken to public beta: PAYE for employees, digital self-assessment, digital tax account and visas.

There is also the plan to move the HMRC website to GOV.UK, along with 80 agencies and arm’s length bodies.

Besides this, GDS is intending to introduce digital inclusion to departments and partners, working with the UK digital skills alliance and Go ON UK.

© 24N.biz