Buckinghamshire County Council website awarded top marks

Date: 04-03-2010

Buckinghamshire County Council’s website has won a top national award for being comprehensive, easy-to-use and useful.

It has been awarded the highest rating of four stars in a nationwide survey by the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM), putting it in the top three per cent of local authority websites. Only 11 of the 479 local authority websites in the country received four stars.

The survey, by a team of reviewers during November and December, tested the information content of websites by focusing on the six topics that generate the most visits to council websites:
 
 * jobs
 * library services
 * schools
 * family history
 * planning
 * rubbish collection
 
Reviewers said Buckinghamshire's site was comprehensive and efficient, making ‘good use of links to other sites, including links to district council sites'. They praised the Home page, with 'clear options for interacting with the council'.

They were also impressed with its accuracy, its links to social network sites like Facebook and Twitter, and its performance with transactions, navigation, A-Z facility, search and accessibility.

The website is designed to help customers find the information they need and transact with the county council at a time that suits them. This is one of the central aims of Customer First 2010, the council's plan to achieve excellence in customer services.

Frank Downes, Cabinet Member for Resources, said: ‘We are thrilled with this result. Our employees work tirelessly to improve the quality of our website so our customers can find what they need 24 hours a day and seven days a week.  We still have more work do to make the website even better, and to increase on-line facilities for residents, but this national assessment shows we are making excellent progress.’