Two government departments set for GOV.UK publishing move

Inside Government section of GOV.UK to go live on 15 November

The first two government departments will this month move their corporate publishing onto the Inside Government section of the recently-launched GOV.UK website.

According to a blog post on the Government Digital Service (GDS) website, "central government in the UK is made up of nearly 400 organisations, each of which continually publishes information to the web about who they are and what they are doing. That's things like policy, publications and announcements, spread across hundreds of separate websites".

The Inside Government page will provide a single platform for all publishing activity by government departments. Government departments' online publishing is being moved to GOV.UK in tranches, with more organisations due to join the website each month, starting on 15 November. All existing web links will be redirected to the new website.

According to the GDS blog post, "like the 7/8ths of an iceberg below the sea level, [Inside Government] is going to be far the bigger part of GOV.UK. To the majority of its users - the regular and frequent consumers of central government information - it's the part that they need and will use the most".

"For the first time ever, there will be a complete list of everything the government is doing, and you won't need to know which bit of government is responsible for what in order to find out what the government is doing on any given subject. All government policy, announcements and publications will be in one place, grouped by topics as well as by the organisations which produced them".

"And, for the first time ever, there will be a comprehensive list of all central government organisations with a short, easy to understand summary of what they do".

"What you'll see on 15 November is just the beginning. With just two departments live, we will still have a long way to go. But you will definitely see where we're heading, and the start of a revolution in the way people perceive and experience central government".

GOV.UK was launched on October 17th as a replacement for DirectGov and Business Link. It will eventually provide a single portal for all government operations.