§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how many people(a) have so far been employed and (b) it is planned will be employed on the DirectGov project;[161834]
(2) what the cost has been of the establishment of the DirectGov service; what the running costs of the service will be; and if he will make a statement; [161852]
(3) what plans his Department has to expand the DirectGov service; what the cost implications of those plans are; what assessment he has made of how greater efficiency in the provision of Government services could be gained through DirectGov; and if he will make a statement. [161853]
1154W
§ Mr. AlexanderDirectGov is the Government's new online service, currently accessible via the UK Online website. Directgov is designed around the needs of the user, making it much easier to find and access Government information and services electronically. The DirectGov site will be expanded over the coming months in both structure and content, taking stakeholder and user feedback into consideration.
Currently the existing UK Online team of 39 staff within the Office of the e-envoy manage the project and have a combined programme and infrastructure budget of £4.4 million. The future budget and staffing of DirectGov will— be decided in conjunction with the site expansion.