1. Stakeholder Voice Working
Group
December 3, 2012
BIS Digital Communications

2. This morning
• Introductions
• BIS transition to gov.uk: lessons and
opportunities (John)
• Government Digital Strategy: overview and
discussion about capability (Ben)
• AoB
BIS Digital Communications

3. Inside Government so far
• Beta version ran
six weeks
from March 1
• BIS opted in
• Public fed back
• DCLG and DfT officially joined two weeks ago
• BIS joins 13 December
BIS Digital Communications

4. By December 13 we will:
• Have ‘transitioned’ 90 per cent of the BIS web
estate to gov.uk
• 1000s of pages and documents archived
• 80,000 words re-written
• Redirected approx. 4000 pages
• All content in plain english
BIS Digital Communications

5. Lessons…
• Plain English is a hard sell
• Writing policy to GDS style is harder than it
sounds
• Too much sub-standard content on our website
over the last few years.
• An agile approach can take a while to
get used to
BIS Digital Communications

6. …and advice
• Ditch bad content (and apologise later)
• Explain what GOV.UK is all about - and repeat
• Plan effectively - lots of people involved
• Detailed guides great for saving technical
jargon from the bin
• Focus on content mapping (the 'Harvester')
• Don't worry too much - transition to GOV.UK is
the start, not the end
BIS Digital Communications

7. Digital capability:
Concerns, questions, ideas
Ben Hayman
BIS Digital Communications

8. Action 4 of the Digital Strategy:
Cabinet Office will support
improved digital capability across
departments
BIS Digital Communications

9. How?
•senior officials offered training
•digital skills development a priority in the Civil
Service Capabilities Plan
•increase support for transaction redesign
•provide guidance on recruiting digital specialists
•bespoke training and support for Service
Managers
BIS Digital Communications

10. All departments should ensure that they have
appropriate in-house specialist digital capability:
•management of their portfolio
of digital services
•digital service design
•development
•analytics
•digital strategy
•online publishing
•product management
BIS Digital Communications

11. In groups:
Digital capability: your
concerns, questions and ideas
BIS Digital Communications

12. Useful links
1. BIS digital blog: discuss.bis.gov.uk/bisdigital/
2. Met office social media win:
metofficenews.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/met
-office-wins-social-buzz-award/
3. DCLG on gov.uk:
gov.uk/government/organisations/department-
for-communities-and-local-government
BIS Digital Communications