Socitm rejects concept of a single website for local government
17 Jun 2014 11:55 AM
The idea of creating a single LOCALGOV.UK site that brings together
information and services for all local government users in the way that GOV.UK
does for central government, is ill-conceived and should not be
attempted.
The idea, which has being receiving attention in social media recently may
sound attractive says Socitm, in a press release issued on 16 June, but on
closer inspection the single local government website concept is deeply flawed
because:
Local authorities are independent, democratically accountable bodies.
Citizens and businesses pay taxes and other charges to consume services
delivered by their local authority. A direct, digitally enabled relatioship
with the accountable body and its elected representatives is therefore
essential
The aim of the Localism Act 2011 is to devolve more decision making powers
from central government back into the hands of individuals, communities and
councils. Such local democratic engagement is facilitated by council websites
in a way it could not be done by a centralised local government website
While the range of services offered by councils is similar, these one
thousand or more services are prioritised locally, through local democratic
processes.
The cost savings from a single local government website are unlikely to be
as great as some might assume. The major area of cost is not the website
itself, but integration between it and back office systems, complicated by the
variety of systems, processes and providers in place (including outsourced
provision)
The logistics of not only developing and also sustaining a single local
government website would be daunting.
However, Socitm welcomes and actively supports development of a common
platform to enable the sharing of software tools and applications used in local
government, including those that support self-service delivery through local
authorities’ websites and other digital channels. Read more in
our press release.