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Departmental Internet

Volume 508: debated on Tuesday 6 April 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent on (a) strategy and planning, (b) design and build, (c) hosting and infrastructure, (d) content provision and (e) testing and evaluation for his Department’s websites in each of the last three years; and how much has been allocated for each such category of expenditure in 2009-10. (310761)

The Ministry of Defence and armed forces collectively maintain four principal websites. These sites are key channels to enable MOD to keep the public informed of defence activities, provide information about MOD and support recruitment.

In support of the Transformational Government agenda, we have made significant progress in rationalising other Defence websites. The closure of some 53 websites has enabled us to make savings and improve the clarity and effectiveness of the departmental web presence. A further 19 sites are committed to close by 31 March 2011.

The four remaining principal Defence websites register a high volume of web traffic. Annual page views for the corporate MOD site, www.mod.uk, have increased by 65 per cent. from 2006-09, from 17.5 million to 29 million.

Annual unique visitor numbers for www.mod.uk have increased by 34 per cent. over the same period, from 3.2 million to 4.3 million.

Expenditure for the four remaining principal sites over the last three financial years is summarised in the following table. Expenditure on these has increased while other websites have closed. Expenditure breakdown by category is not available for these financial years as this requirement was not introduced until 1 April 2009, when the “Measuring Website Costs: TG128” guidance issued by the Central Office of Information (COI) came into effect. It should be noted that the expenditure figures shown are not directly comparable year on year as costs were captured differently in each year.

£

Financial year

Website

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

MOD corporate website: www.mod.uk

177,875

325,600

464,853

Royal Navy: www.royalnavy.mod.uk

270,000

283,000

283,000

British Army: www.army.mod.uk

235,000

426,500

501,814

Royal Air Force: www.raf.mod.uk

173,859

155,000

425,241

Projected expenditure broken down by category for the 2009-10 financial year for the four principal websites is detailed in the following table. Figures are exclusive of internal staff costs.

£

Website

Strategy and planning

Design and build

Hosting and infrastructure

Content provision

Testing and evaluation

Total

Ministry of Defence: www.mod.uk

0

1417,900

126,000

2292

8,070

1552,262

Royal Navy: www.royalnavy.mod.uk

100,000

374,000

109,000

0

4

283,000

British Army: www.army.mod.uk

15,875

24,870

118,651

21,704

25,300

186,400

Royal Air Force: www.raf.mod.uk

22,085

147,691

49,675

0

2,938

222,389

1 This figure also includes expenditure on MOD’s internal Defence intranet.

2 Translation services.

3 Includes testing and evaluation.

4 Included in design and build.

A number of other websites are run by different parts of the Ministry of Defence, but these are not managed centrally. Information on these sites could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints his Department received regarding difficulties using its Department’s website in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. (325200)

The Ministry of Defence and armed forces collectively maintain four corporate websites:

Ministry of Defence

www.mod.uk

Royal Navy

www.royalnavy.mod.uk

British Army

www.army.mod.uk

Royal Air Force

www.raf.mod.uk

The MOD takes the provision of usable, accessible, quality websites very seriously and we continually evaluate the services provided in light of feedback received from members of the public. Each website provides feedback mechanisms such as ‘Contact Us’ forms. Feedback provided via these forms covers a number of topics, and complaints are not captured separately from other feedback. Details of the number of complaints received could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on external website design consultants in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. (325218)

The Ministry of Defence and armed forces collectively maintain four corporate websites. Expenditure on design consultancy cannot be separated from website redesign and implementation costs overall. Costs for redesign and implementation in the last three years, including design consultancy and other costs, are shown in the following table.

Website and URL

Cost (£)

MOD corporate website: http://www.mod.uk

2007-08

150,000

Royal Navy: http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk

2007

110,000

British Army: http://www.army.mod.uk

20081

266,500

Royal Air Force: http://www.raf.mod.uk

2006-07

119,579

1 The British Army website redesign launched on 30 May 2008; the redesign project launched in 2006 and preparatory design work was carried out between 2006 and 2008.