2.4 United Kingdom

The UK has very recently (March 2004) launched a citizen-centric government portal called Direct Gov. Primarily a government information site, it provides quick access to a broad range of services. The organisation of the site is arranged for the benefit of users including the 'Top 5 Queries': Jobs & Work, Passports & Travel, Tax and Money, Health and the NHS, and Cars and Motorbikes. Citizens can access a range of services including, but not restricted to, such diverse activities as making a planning application, registering to vote, reporting minor crimes, getting compensation for crime-related injuries and contacting the Prime Minister. A lot of these services are provided through links to third parties endorsed by the government as being able to provide "additional trusted advice and support" (refer to website).

The discourse on linked services such as those available on this site is not readily available on the UK e-government websites. The predominant policy work available on the Internet remains the Channels Framework (refer above). The service appears to have been developed as part of the e-government portal development, but reflects the type of transformational government that is consistent with the thinking coming out of Ireland, Canada and Australia.