Maude to give Directgov more weight

The review of Directgov was led by the government's digital champion Martha Lane Fox and says the site should become the front end for all government online services. It also calls for the creation of a new online publishing team, and the appointment of a chief executive officer for digital. In his response to the review, Maude said he had asked officials to get on with proposals including a timetable for migrating all of government's transactional services to Directgov. He was cautious, however, about suggestions that government should move to a single domain, and said he would have to consult with colleagues before making a decision. He approved the recruitment of an executive director of digital and information in the Cabinet Office. This is notable coming the week after the announcement of the departure of government chief information officer John Suffolk, followed by news that Jayne Nickalls, chief executive of Directgov, is also stepping down. Maude has also told officials to work with departments on a timetable for opening up application programme interfaces to enable third parties to create new services for the public. The review says this would enable Directgov to become a "proactive wholesaler" of services. The review says that if 30% of government service delivery contacts were moved to them it would deliver gross annual savings of more than £1.3bn. This could rise to £2.2bn if 50% of contacts shifted to digital. Rather than expect people to go to Directgov, the document says that government transactional services and content should be placed where people spend their time on the web. But the review makes no reference to concerns about access to services by those unable to use the internet. Another recommendation is that a new central team in the Cabinet Office would have total control over all digital channels, commissioning all government online information from other departments. Maude said: "We will use digital technology to drive better services and lower costs. "This does not mean we will abandon groups that are less likely to access the internet: we recognise that we cannot leave anyone behind. Every single government service must be available to everyone – no matter if they are online or not."