WIREDGOV

• Report reviews last 10 years’ of local authority web development and includes expert predictions on next 10 years
• Four sites achieve top (excellent) rating in 2008 survey compared with one in 2007: they are East Sussex CC; Gloucestershire CC; Salford City; Tameside MBC
• 165 sites rated as transactional - up from 121 in 2007
• Improvement recorded on many Better connected criteria for website excellence including currency of information, news value, transactions, use of A to Z and search
• Level A accessibility across all sites has dropped to just 8% (14% in 2007) - Better connected to publish special supplement on accessibility during March after main report
• Poor usability continues to let down many online services reliant on third party software (planning, search and library reservations were tested)
• Deep-linking from Google and access from mobile devices tested
• Too many registration facilities remain insecure and ask for inappropriate data
• Improvement recorded in use of plain English and site resilience
• Numbers of unique visitors to council sites increased in 2007 by 10.4% (22.5% in 2006)
• Only 32% of council answer phone messages refer callers to their websites, a relatively small improvement over the 20% that did so when the test was first run in 2006.
• 13 councils appearing regularly in Better connected’s Top 20 reveal how they manage their websites
• Redbridge praised for its innovative and interactive website – a rare example of a council site with a Web 2.0 approach

The results of the latest edition of Better connected, the tenth annual survey of local authority websites published by the Society of IT Management (Socitm) on March 3, show that four councils have achieved the full E (excellent) site ranking. The E sites are: East Sussex CC, Gloucestershire CC, Salford City and Tameside MBC. This compares with 2007 when just one ‘E’ site was found (Barking & Dagenham), who fell short this time on one aspect of accessibility.

A further 18 sites failed ‘E’ status by just one factor — accessibility in 11 cases. 43 sites have been designated as excellent for content, but not usability. Six have been found to be excellent for usability, but not content. The total number of transactional sites has increased from 121 in 2007 to 165 in 2008, a slowing down after last year’s record increase. These are spread reasonably evenly across types of council and across regions in England. There are now nine transactional sites in Scotland and four in Wales. Overall the survey shows 73% of sites are ‘Standard’, 26% are ‘Transactional’ and 1% are ‘Excellent’.

This year the total number of transactional sites has increased by 36% from 121 to 165, after doubling the year before. Accessibility standards, tested against WCAG1.0 have slipped back compared with 2007. Level A conformance with WCAG1.0 has dropped from 64 sites to 49 sites. On other Better connected criteria, like currency, transactions, and ease of use there has been progress or no change from 2007.

In total, 468 council websites have been examined through a 95-question survey carried by a team of reviewers between 5 November and 14 December 2007; an additional 83 sites for subscribers from other parts of the public sector were also assessed. 37 questions were around five ‘scenarios’ based on typical website user needs. These were: looking for information about libraries, using registration services (ie births, marriages & deaths); arranging waste collection and recycling; obtaining housing information; finding out about council tax and finance.

Seven additional surveys were carried out by individual members of the team outside the main survey:

• Response to an e-mail request
• Handling of broken links
• News value
• Access from mobile devices
• Registration for online services
• Phone contact details
• Deep-linking from Google

This research has been supplemented by a further seven other separate surveys, using our partner organisations, covering:

• Benchmarking of various technical measures of performance – all sites (SiteMorse)
• Usability and accessibility of applications from nine suppliers across 27 sites (Usability Exchange)
• Website accessibility – all sites (RNIB)
• Website readability - 15 sites (The Writer)
• Access to the internet (Ipsos MORI)
• Usage of websites – all websites (Hitwise)
• Visitor feedback on websites - 77 sites participating in Website take-up service (Nielsen)

Based on performance in the main survey, the Better connected team has identified its ‘Top Twenty’ local authority sites in 2008. They are:

• Barking & Dagenham
• Bracknell Forest (last in top 20 in 2004)
• Brighton & Hove (last in 2006)
• Clackmannanshire (last in 2006)
• East Riding of Yorkshire (new)
• East Sussex CC (last in 2006)
• Gloucestershire CC (last in 1999)
• Greenwich (new) *
• Haringey (new) *
• Merton
• North Lincolnshire
• Nottingham City (new) *
• Richmond (last in 2001)
• Rochdale MBC (new) *
• Salford City
• Southwark
• Stockton-on-Tees BC (new) *
• Tameside MBC (last in 2005)
• Trafford MBC (new)
• West Lindsey DC (new) *

* means new transactional site in 2008.

Better connected 2008 also identifies the top six sites over 10 years (based on the number of times they have appeared in the top 20)

Brent - 8
Camden - 6
Tameside MBC - 6
Devon CC - 5
Surrey CC - 5
Wandsworth - 5

Continuing the focus on sites that have consistently done well in Better connected, the report describes how 13 councils appearing regularly in the report Top 20 manage their websites.

Commenting on the findings of Better connected 2008, Martin Greenwood, programme manager for Socitm Insight and author of the report, said: Ten years ago when we published Well connected?, perhaps 29% of the population had online access, and nobody certainly had much idea about how the internet was used. In 2008, where access to the internet is widespread, debate should centre on encouraging greater levels of take-up of online services and on guiding the customer’s journey easily and quickly to find that key service or piece of information. The state of the council website, though critical in that journey, should now be part of a broader strategy of improving customer access across all channels of delivery.’

Writing in the report foreword, Janet Callender, Chief Executive of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and Chair of the Local Government Delivery Council says: ‘Increasingly, our websites are underpinning front line service delivery, improving efficiency and effectiveness, and they provide a window through which an organisation’s culture and attitude towards customer services can be judged. Much, indeed, can be learnt about an organisation by visiting their website.’

Better connected 2008 will be available to Socitm Insight subscribers from 3 March 2008. This year’s report comes in three parts: the Main Report, providing analysis in three central sections (useful content, usability and usage), the Full Results Report that provides the results in greater detail and three extra appendices, and a separate item, A world denied: a supplement for Better connected 2008 on website accessibility, that will be published during March after the main report. These items will be available to Socitm Insight subscribers from the Socitm website from March 3. Non-subscribers will be able to buy a printed version of the Main Report at a cost of £395. It can be ordered from www.socitm.gov.uk

Notes for Editors

PDF copies of the report will be available shortly. If you would like one please email vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk with a note to the effect that you undertake to use the report for journalistic purposes only and that you will not pass the report on to others.

Further information about Better connected 2008 is available from:

Vicky Sargent, Socitm Press Office
Tel: 07726 601 139 vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk

Martin Greenwood, Programme Manager, Socitm Insight
Tel: 01926 498703 or 07967 383755 e-mail: martin.greenwood@socitm.gov.uk

Additional information

1 How the research was done

This year’s Better connected survey was carried out between 5 November to 14 December 2007. As in previous years, a team of reviewers carried out a structured survey with 95 questions for local authority websites. Using a structured questionnaire, the team explored the ability of websites to respond to the needs of a range of typical local authority customers, and to test performance in the areas of joined-up government; interactive applications; currency of information; usability; and responsiveness to e-mail.


2 Process for identifying transactional and excellent websites

The process has two stages:

Stage 1 Assessment of transactional sites
Stage 2 Assessment of excellent sites

The process of assessing transactional sites is a mixture of quantitative evidence, using as in previous years thresholds of questions answered in our survey and ratings of scenarios and themes assessed in the survey, and qualitative evidence, using the judgement of the Better connected team of twelve reviewers. The main survey carried out by reviewers is the only source of evidence.

The process of assessing excellent sites is based entirely on objective evidence applied on transactional sites that achieve defined standards on nine criteria considered essential. The main survey is supplemented by the results of the accessibility assessments by the RNIB.


3 Essential criteria that must be met to achieve an excellent rating

Usefulness of content
Information - Do people find answers to their questions
Currency - Can people rely on the site being up to date
Links - Are people referred to another organisation if the council does not have the information?
Transactions - Can people transact business with the council?

Usability
Use of A to Z - Can people find their way easily to a ist specific topic?
Use of search engine - Does a specific word or phrase generally point people to the information they want?
Use of location - Can people find information easily by using a map or postcode (or other similar)?
Navigation - Can people rely on a clear and consistent style in finding their way around?
Accessibility Can people use the site if they have a disability?


4 Percentage of sites achieving the standard on Better connected essential criteria

Criteria - % sites achieving standard - comparison with 2007

Usefulness of content

Information - 44% - Improvement
Currency - 61% - Improvement
Links elsewhere - 31% - Improvement
News value - 29% - Improvement
Transactions - 55% - Improvement
E-mail - 36% - No change
Participation - 47% - No change

Usability

Ease of finding - N/a - Not available
Use of A to Z - 49% - Improvement
Use of search engine - 47% - Improvement
Use of location - 22% - No change
Navigation - 59% - No change
Design of transactions - N/a - Not available
Accessibility - 10% - Deterioration
Readability - N/a - Not available
Resilience - 6% - Improvement (on low base)


5 Percentage of transactional sites within each type of council:

London boroughs 64%
Shire counties 53%
Metropolitan districts 42%
English unitaries 32%
Scottish unitaries 22%
Shire districts 18%
Welsh unitaries 14%


6 Performance of other public sector websites

Using a shorter questionnaire based on the local authority survey, the Better connected team also investigated websites from some other organisations that subscribe to Socitm Insight, including:

• Six passenger transport executives (PTEs)
• Eleven fire services
• Seven police services
• Fourteen registered social landlords (RSLs)
• Twenty-four central government departments (inc all those represented on the CIO Council)
• Five devolved administrations
• Four central government agencies
• Eight regional government organisations
• Four other organisations (eg National Health Service, voluntary sector).

In total we surveyed an additional 83 sites from these related sectors. When these are added to
the 468 local authority websites we reviewed, the total number of websites amounted to 551.
In general, most local government websites seem very good in comparison, but we have identified 18 exceptionally good websites that are transactional according to Better connected’s definition.

7 Additional testing and surveys in 2008

• E-mail
• Handling of broken links
• News value
• Access to websites from mobile devices (BlackBerry, mobile PC)
• Registration for online services
• Phone contact details
• Deep-linking from Google
• Benchmarking of various technical measures of performance – all sites (SiteMorse)
• Usability and accessibility of applications from nine suppliers across 27 sites (Usability Exchange)
• Website accessibility – all sites (RNIB)
• Website readability - 15 sites (The Writer)
• Access to the internet (Ipsos MORI)
• Usage of websites – all websites (Hitwise)
• Visitor feedback on websites - 77 sites participating in Website take-up service (Nielsen)


8 The e-mail test

Dear Sir\Madam

I have recently retired and I would like to use this as an opportunity to give something back to the
community. I am interested in becoming a councillor. How would I put myself forward for this?
I am also keen to find out about volunteering opportunities in the area, but I am not sure where
to start. I am especially interested in helping older people.
Thanks for your help
Wilfred Morgan (wilfredmorgan@gmail.com)

9 Access from mobile devices

Access from mobile devices using a sample of 10% of all UK council websites biased towards some of the best developed was tested using two devices: a BlackBerry 8700 and a pocket pc
Qtek 9000 (running windows mobile 5.0).


10 Report contents summary

Section 1 Introduction: key features of the survey, are introduced including its purpose, the process, the ranking system and the 'useful, usable and used' framework used for assessment.

Section 2 National policies and direction: an overview of national policies and initiatives that will have a strategic impact on the development of websites in the next two to three years.

Section 3 Overview of this year’s results: the national picture in terms of overall rankings, using a ranking system updated in 2007 to include the new top ranking of ‘excellent’. Transactional sites, Better connected’s Top 20 and other groupings of top local authorities are set out.

Section 4 This year’s results — useful content: includes detailed analysis of results for five typical visitor scenarios as well as other aspects of content such as currency of information, use of links, provision of services, response to e-mail and the practice of participation.

Section 5 This year’s results — usability: includes results for ease of finding, use of navigational aids such as A to Z lists, search engines and locational data, general navigation, accessibility, readability and, finally, technical resilience.

Section 6 This year’s results — usage: different aspects of the demand side are examined, highlighting trends in usage. The latest information about internet access, visitor usage, satisfaction and behaviour is set out, culminating with advice about better marketing.

Section 7 Joining up in county areas: evidence of joined-up working in two-tier areas of England is examined and key messages from a special piece of research about (sub) regional portals are set out.

Section 8 Improving the website: lessons to be learned by those who have consistently done well in the past are set out as are ideas for strategic directions for the next ten years, using the ideas from contributors to Ten years of Better connected.

Section 9 Conclusions


11 A note on collaborators in Better connected 2008

Socitm would like to thank the following organisations for their help in contributing to this report. Their advice has helped to add balance with a number of different perspectives:

Hitwise UK (www.hitwise.co.uk)
Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute (www.ipsos-mori.com)
Nielsen (www.nielsen.com)
Royal National Institute of Blind People (www.rnib.org.uk)
Sitemorse plc (www.sitemorse.com)
Society of Public Information Networks (www.spin.org.uk)
Usability Exchange (www.usabilityexchange.com)
The Writer (www.thewriter.co.uk)