Cabinet Office
Publishing date: [Published June 2003]
Preface
By 2005 we are aiming to achieve high levels of use for key on-line government services. This supports the drive to deliver high quality public services around the needs of citizens. This aim applies equally to central and local government.
For many users of local services their authority’s web site will be the point of entry to this new form of service provision. It will be essential that these sites are of a high quality, accessible, easy to use and offer a comprehensive range of services. Today’s users expect government websites to be authoritative, comprehensive and designed to consistent standards.
This document provides best practice guidance for local government web managers on how to design and maintain accessible websites. In particular, it outlines 10 key best practice guidelines for UK local government websites. These ten guidelines not only set the website in a broader context of policy, but provide practical guidance on the kinds of tasks that need to be planned and considered in website development and management.
The guidance is designed to be practical. It has been developed in partnership between local authority web and policy staff, government departments and the Office of the e-Envoy. It builds on the National Strategy for local e-Government that the government and the LGA published in November 2002. Although this document is designed for local authorities, the proposed standards are consistent with those applied to central government sites.
The opportunity for local government to improve the delivery of its services to its citizens by encouraging them to get online is important. Improving the quality, coverage and inclusiveness of their websites is one way of achieving this. We hope that the best practice principles contained in this document will help towards this objective.