Tests highlight government website flaws

The tests, which looked at download speed, errors, warnings and 'very basic' metadata, revealed that the best overall website was local e-government and that central government websites tend to have more errors.

The worst performer was UK Online for Business, the Department of Trade and Industry's website aimed at promoting e-business. B2W said that the site failed all tests carried out and moved to the bottom of the table, from second from bottom last time round, making it the poorest site overall.



B2W found that none of the 58 government websites tested were error free, though central government websites had the most problems. It said the majority of the problems discovered indicate poorly managed and maintained sites.

There were 16 sites that had over 1,000 errors, the site with the most errors being Inland Revenue with over 10,000, followed by HM Treasury.

In addition, 46 of the 58 sites tested failed all basic speed tests, looking at first page download, simulated as being viewed by 56kbps, 512kbps and 1mbps connections, with only 12 passing all tests.

Separately, the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has teamed up with public-sector consultancy, Socitm, to test government websites in terms of how useful they are to the general public, as opposed to how well they perform technically.

The research, which is being carried out by a team of reviewers during August and September, aims to find out useful government websites are in helping people find relevant information and deal with affairs in issues such as debt, income support and benefits. The findings are due to be published next month.



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