If we stick to a study released just over a year (I just discovered today) the National Audit Office in the UK (NAO, National Audit Office) on the websites of the British civil service. To highlight a few conclusions:

• 25% of the British services know who looks at his web site and the cost thereof.
• The total cost of the General government websites is estimated at 307 million euros, without significant improvements made since 2002.
• Although the websites have improved slightly between 2001 and 2006 in terms of quality, only 10% have made significant progress, while 33% have been degraded.
• Most of the citizens-users know a few websites and only use transactional services (taxes on income and other types of taxes) once or twice a year.
• The websites of local governments are most popular with about 180 million visitors a year (possibly confirms that local government is closest to the citizen).
• The website for employment (Jobcentre Plus) of the Department of Labor, is one of the most popular (78% of users visit it at least once a week).
• The name of the portal that gives access to various public websites, Directgov, is hard to remember.
• One third of websites AA.PP does not comply with standards and accessibility criteria. Some 12% of the 3,400 forms available online are transactional, while 85% of forms should be printed and completed manually.

The head of the NAO, Sir John Boum, believes that state agencies must be aware of the true costs of their websites, to track those who use them and what with the aim to better meet the needs of its citizens .

General government Spanish State, are engaged in a series of initiatives to boost eGovernment:

• Development Plan of the Law 11/2007 of electronic access of citizens to public services in the General State Administration
• Moderniza - Plan of Action 2006-2008 for the improvement of the administration
• Avanza - Plan 2006 - 2010 for the development of information society
• Local Administrative Modernization Project (eModel)

Question: Has there been a thorough audit of the NAO as for establishing the starting point for all these initiatives?

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