Localised web portal gives single link to council sites

The government has launched a local version of its successful Directgov portal to provide citizens across England with a single point of access to council services.

Local Directgov is intended to make it easier for the public to find information about local services, and change the way people search online for information about councils.

Steve Pennant, chief executive of local egovernment group London Connects, who worked with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on the project, says Local Directgov is the first time that all 388 English local authorities have
participated in a single project.

‘This works because we are now past December 2005, the government target for local authorities to get every single service online, so every council facility now has a page,’ he said.

‘Local Directgov links to all the local authorities’ web sites. It invites you to
put in your postcode and it will come up with a link to the relevant page on your council’s site.’

Pennant says the ultimate goal for Local Directgov is to become the hub of a totally integrated set of web services.

‘The nirvana is single sign-on, where you log into a personal portal where you type in your own details and register and get the services you need, whether it be Richmond, the Greater London Authority, Transport for London or a central government department,’ he said.

Directgov received 17.5 million visitors in 2005, and Angela Waite, president of local government user group Socitm, says Local Directgov will help citizens obtain a better overall view of council services.

‘People can use the site to lead them to the solution they are looking for without having to know where they need to go or who they need to contact,’ she said.

‘However, what we need now is more integration into back-office systems at local authority level. Local Directgov provides the signposting to answers, but you also need to provide a quality service at the end of it and that is where integration comes to the fore,’ she said.