§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 27 February,Official Report, column 1405W, concerning the Departmental website, what the reasons are for the increase in (i) hosting and maintenance charges and (ii) website development costs. [48251]
§ Yvette CooperThe increase in hosting and maintenance charges for the Departmental website between 1998 and 2002 was caused by two factors
(a) the number of databases made available increased from one at the beginning of 1998 to around sixty in 2002. Hosting for each is charged separately; and(b) Office of Government Commerce's charging arrangements for website hosting and maintenance changed annually during the period 1998 to 2002.The increase in website development costs was due to the following factors:
(a) The increase in size of the site from 100 to over 80,000 pages in the six years since its launch, and the increase in use of the Internet as a publishing vehicle for departmental publications, has meant that the information has had to be substantially reorganised.(b) Other changes have been made in order to meet the Office of the e-Envoy's "Guidelines for UK government websites" on Accessibility and Usability.(c) User research and ongoing customer and stakeholder feedback has prompted redesign work to improve the site's navigational structure, the search engine and the choice of document format available.