1 March 2006

Council websites are progressing slowly, despite some signs of improvement, reveals a new survey.

Sites are excelling in providing transactional services where users can access services online, but in other areas development is stalling, according to the annual report on local authority websites by Socitm (Society of Information Technology Management).

It found that the number of sites offering 'content plus' had failed to grow over the last year and that there had been no increase in the number of sites attaining an 'A' web accessibility rating, stagnating at the 60 per cent mark achieved last year.

However, the number of transactional sites did increase from 38 to 60 since last year, and 70 per cent of sites were judged "good" or "satisfactory" in terms of their usability.

Soctim's report also found that many more people are now taking advantage of online council services, with an estimated 10.2 million people having used a council website in December 2005, marking a 40 per cent increase on the previous year.

Entitled Better Connected 2006, Soctim's survey was conducted between November and December 2005 where a team of judges reviewed the websites of all 468 councils in the UK.

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