Manx government website 'not fit for purpose'

David Ashford said the current website was difficult to navigate

The official website of the Manx government is "not fit for purpose", the cabinet office minister has said.

David Ashford said the site was "a mess" and needed to be targeted as part of the Digital Strategy 2022-2027, which aimed to modernise government services.

He said while £6m had been achieved in "cost avoidance and savings" though measures in the plan, there was a "need to accelerate digitisation".

But concerns were raised by some Tynwald members that key milestones had already passed without goals being hit and deadlines would continue to be missed.

When the document was released it listed a range of objectives and targets, including making financial savings and the creation of a "tell us once system" to improve communication between systems.

During the December sitting of Tynwald, Lawrie Hooper MHK said the strategy had achieved "practically nothing set against its targets".

Chris Thomas MHK highlighted that goals to create a paperless government by September 2022 and launch a new gov.im website by January 2023 had been missed.

The Digital Strategy was launched by the government in 2022

Ashford said Government Technology Services had developed over 100 new digital utilities, which included an online change of address system, and installed foundations so public services could benefit from AI in future.

But he admitted he did not think the government had digitised services "fast enough", and although he was satisfied with the work that had been completed, there was "much more that needs to be done".

The minister said users found the government's website difficult to navigate and work on an upgraded site would now "move forward as a matter of urgency".

He said meeting other targets in the strategy would be "challenging" as it was important to ensure any changes were "right not rushed", but he agreed there was a need to "accelerate digitisation and streamlining across the organisation".