Gov.Wales (UK0086)

Commitment text: We will make our information and services easier to find and consume by
consolidating our digital content on a new Welsh Government website that is focussed on meeting
user needs. The site will include an improved consultation service.
Objective: Build a new GOV.WALES to improve access to Welsh Government information and
services.
Status quo: The Welsh Government publishes information on more than 150 websites.
Information is presented inconsistently and is sometimes duplicated. Users do not know whether
they have found all Welsh Government information on a particular issue.
Ambition: GOV.WALES will accommodate practically all Welsh Government information and
services, making it easier for users to understand what we do and how we are performing. It will
provide a clearer picture of the public sector in Wales, increasing accountability by allowing the
public to see and access those bodies that are working on their behalf. The new consultations service
will provide a better way for the public to participate in our decision-making process.
Milestones:
1. Launch beta consultations service, including response forms that users can save
2. Launch beta campaigns platform
3. Launch beta public bodies platform
4. Publish first tranche of beta corporate content
5. Publish remaining corporate content

6. Gov.Wales (Wales)

Commitment text:We will make our information and services easier to find and consume by consolidating our digital content on a new Welsh Government website that is focussed on meeting user needs. The site will include an improved consultation service.

Objective:Build a new GOV.WALES to improve access to Welsh Government information and services.

Status quo:The Welsh Government publishes information on more than 150 websites. Information is presented inconsistently and is sometimes duplicated. Users do not know whether they have found all Welsh Government information on a particular issue.

Ambition:GOV.WALES will accommodate practically all Welsh Government information and services, making it easier for users to understand what we do and how we are performing. It will provide a clearer picture of the public sector in Wales, increasing accountability by allowing the public to see and access those bodies that are working on their behalf. The new consultations service will provide a better way for the public to participate in our decision-making process.

Milestones:

1. Launch beta consultations service, including response forms that users can save

2. Launch beta campaigns platform

3. Launch beta public bodies platform

4. Publish first tranche of beta corporate content

5. Publish remaining corporate content

Responsible institution: Welsh Government

Supporting institution(s): N/A

Start date: April 2015

End date: June 2019

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aimed to create a single ‘gov.wales' site for Welsh government services along the lines of the UK's GOV.UK.^{[Note 213: Gov.uk, ‘Welcome to GOV.UK', https://www.gov.uk/. The website won design of the year in 2013, The Guardian, ‘'Direct and well-mannered' government website named design of the year',}

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/apr/16/government-website-design-of-year ] To develop the new site, it would be run as a beta version, which means it will run experimentally and its services will be continually tested and improved.^{[Note 214: Gov.uk, ‘Beta on GOV.UK', https://www.gov.uk/help/beta ]}

Status

Midterm: Limited

According to the government, after the first year the commitment was on track to be completed.^{[Note 215: Interview with Rhiannon Caunt, Welsh Government, 6 September 2017. ]} The Welsh government had launched a series of seven consultations in Beta experimental form:^{[Note 216: Welsh Government, ‘Consultations: Beta on GOV.WALES', https://consultations.gov.wales/help/beta-govwales?lang=en as verified by the IRM researcher.]} including the Welsh Government consultations, Superfast broadband campaign, Brexit: Securing Wales' Future and Flood and Coastal Erosion Committee.

According to the self-assessment published after the close of the evaluation period for this report, the corporate content was uploaded to the beta version.^{[Note 217: Welsh government (2017), Input to 3rd UK Open Government National Action Plan 2016-2018: Mid-term (2017) assessment report, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668973/Welsh_Government_Input_to_3rd_UK_Open_Government_National_Action_Plan_2016-2018_-_Mid_Term__2017__Self_Assessment_Report.pdf ]}

End of term: Limited

According to the self-assessment of December 2017 all parts of the commitment were completed except the final milestone, though this runs until 30 June 2019 (a year outside of the OGP cycle). For this cycle ‘work is under way to move content to the new platform but is taking longer than expected'.^{[Note 218: The IRM was unable to ascertain externally how far the commitment had progressed, aside from the final report.][Note 219: Welsh Government (2017), National Action Plan Welsh Government Mid-Term Self-Assessment Report.]}

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Marginal

Civic Participation: Marginal

Prior to this commitment, information on Welsh government services was spread across ‘more than 150 websites' with information ‘inconsistent' and ‘sometimes duplicated'. So far, the commitment has had a marginal and indirect impact on open government by drawing together information on a single ‘one stop' site, similar to the UK GOV.UK site. In terms of access to information, this makes it easier to find information and navigate to one single place rather than search the 150 or so estimated sites it was spread across before. It would also help make it more consistent and end duplication. The commitment has had a small effect in enhancing civic participation through online consultations, and the consultations, according to the Welsh government, have been ‘well used in a beta version in 2017 in a number of areas and received positive feedback from government and external users'.^{[Note 220: Welsh Government (2018), Third UK Open Government, national action plan 2016-2018, Welsh Government End of Term Self-Assessment Report, October 2018, https://www.opengovernment.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Office-of-the-Chief-Digital-Officer-NAP-3-Open-Government-National-Action-Plan-2016-2018-Final-Assessment.pdf]}

Carried Forward?

This commitment has not been carried forward.