This document discusses the work of the Government Digital Service (GDS) in the UK. It summarizes that GDS launched the GOV.UK website in October, which has received over 187 million visits. User testing found that GOV.UK makes completing tasks quicker and easier than previous government websites. GDS has also archived over 100,000 documents, closed over 200 subdomains, and set up over 275,000 redirections. Going forward, GDS plans to focus on improving government transactions and digital identity services.

1. Etienne Pollard
Deputy Director at Digital
Government Digital Service
@ejhpollard

2. Create GDS
Fix publishing
Fix transactions
Go wholesale
GDS

3. GOV.UK
GDS

4. Single place for all
government services and
information online
@MTBracken GDS

5. Simpler, clearer, faster
services for UK
businesses and citizens
GDS

6. GOV.UK
launched in
October
GDS

7. Since then it’s had:
visits 187,693,708
page views 546,578,264
site searches 9,436,711
5 million visits a month more than
Directgov and Business Link
GDS

8. Our users seem to like it:
Twice as many say it’s easy to
complete a task on GOV.UK
(61%) vs Business Link (29%)
(face to face testing – 120 interviews)
GDS

9. Our testing suggests that completing
tasks is quicker:
GOV.UK 2 mins 24 seconds
Business Link 3 mins 24 seconds
GOV.UK 135 seconds
Directgov 144 seconds
(1,600 online task based sessions)
GDS

10. *
50,000 documents published
222 subdomains closed
116,000 documents archived
275,000 redirections
GDS

11. *
We will save £50 to £70
million a year and make
it easier to find out and
understand what
government is doing…
GDS

12. *
GDS

13. That, though, was the easy
stuff
GDS

14. Next we’re going to work on
transactions and identity
GDS

15. GDS
They come from across government and
around the country

16. GDS

17. These, plus other planned
programmes, will transform
the majority of our most
significant transactions…
GDS

18. GDS

19. According to the Digital Efficiency Report
this will deliver £1.1bn+ in savings
Because, for instance, the average cost of
a digital transaction is:
20 x lower than phone
30 x lower than postal
50 x lower than face-to-face
GDS
http://publications.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/digital/efficiency/

20. GDS
Our delivery approach is user-focused, agile
and iterative.
Not:
But:

21. GDS
You can find
more detail about
‘how’ in the
Digital By Default
Service Manual
https://www.gov.uk/service-manual

22. GDS
The alpha we’ve been doing
with the Rural Payments
Agency is a good example of
the changes we can all make,
and how quickly we can do it…

25. Thanks!
digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
@GDSteam
@ejhpollard