All local authority sites in the UK - a total of 543, including some police, health and fire services’ websites - were assessed on a number of criteria including usability, accessibility and navigation, download speed, news value and the quality of content for areas such as licensing, schools and jobs.
Cllr. John Whelan, Deputy Leader of Lambeth Council commented; "Lambeth is getting e-connected! The Council's website is a testimony to the skills of our web team in creating more transactional services, making the website easy to navigate, and accessible to people with disabilities. Above all it is there to serve the residents of Lambeth with information at the click of a mouse.
"Because our website is easy to use it is helping to reduce the digital divide in the borough and is promoting social inclusion."
The Lambeth web programme – delivered by the web team, eGovernment and IT services within Lambeth – has benefited from partnership working with web design agency Fortune Cookie and cScape Strategic Internet Services.
The design for the site was tested for usability with a group of borough residents to make sure that it conformed to best practice standards of usability and web accessibility prior to launch in May 2005. This means that all users can access the site and its content and services regardless of disability, hardware used or their levels of technical skills and knowledge. The Lambeth website has also been awarded the Plain English Crystal Mark.
Around a third of Lambeth residents who have internet access have used the council’s website for a number of services. This includes paying for council tax, housing rent and parking penalty charge notices, applying for a bulky refuse collection or reporting an abandoned vehicle, or simply finding information on a range of more than 800 council services from arts to health issues, street cleaning, adoption and youth clubs. Those who don’t have internet access at their home or work can use one of the borough’s nine libraries, where internet access is provided free of charge.
Providing services online makes the council more accessible and efficient. The Lambeth website has greatly improved customer service at Lambeth, especially serving those who can’t or find it difficult to visit the network of council reception points around the borough. Residents now have a quick, easy, reliable and comprehensive service for getting information from the council 24 hours a day, carrying out certain transactions and making requests.
Quelle: eGov monitor, 14.03.2006
