i'm finding it difficult to feel other than uneasy and dismayed by this. the government press release is uninformative and has less substance than candyfloss... i assume this is a purely cost cutting exercise. ??? does anyone know more...?

I share concerns - it can be difficult enough to get Commissioner's decisions, just look at the number of requests which appear on Rightsnet.

It's hard to see the BBC website holding hundreeds of full decisions which then puts the onus in sites like this.

An e-mail to ryan heath at the cabinet office asking whether the Comms site was to retained brought the following response.

Hello Tony
Thanks for your message. I am passing it onto the team that authored the paper for clarification. The person to follow that with is Alex.Butler@coi.gsi.gov.uk 

I also recommend chasing with your ‘home department’ (for lack of a better term) that houses the site as the closing agreement will have been reached with them, separate from our press office having to communicate the results of that negotiation.

Thanks

Ryan Heath

Perhaps we could "spam" Alex for the answer

My understanding is that the content of all these sites remains, there is just a common way-in.

i hope so, but i've lost my trust in the government (somebody musta let a polymorph in here!) and the following just wasn't reassuring enough for me... : (

"Information of continuing relevance from closed sites will transfer to www.direct.gov.uk and www.businesslink.gov.uk "

and raised more questions. i've spammed alex butler anyway, fingers crossed for non-fudgy reply. : )

rightsnet has been advised today that, despite the information released by the government earlier this week, there is no immediate threat to the www.osscsc.gov.uk website; that there will be consultation before any firm decision is made; and that the likelihood is that any change will see additional / separate access to the resources (eg from Directgov) rather than the site closing ....

this from new National Audit Office report - 'Government on the internet: progress in delivering information and services online'

'3.3 Current government policy seeks to reduce the number of government websites by: (i) concentrating behind main department domain names and eliminating other less-used domain names; and (ii) moving main service delivery and related information provision functions over time to two government supersites, Directgov orientated to citizens and businesslink.gov.uk orientated to firms and enterprises.

3.4 ... During the autumn of 2006, the Cabinet Office asked departments and agencies to review their 'web-estate' of sites and to identify candidates for closure. In January 2007 it was announced that 450 unneeded government-run websites (out of 951 sites identified) were to be closed. Most of these sites are out of date campaign or information sites ... Subsequently the websites scheduled for closure has increased to 551.

3.5 ... the Directgov and businesslink.gov.uk teams are working with departments to move the majority of the content of their sites over to the planned supersites. Departments will retain their own 'corporate sites' containing chiefly departmental information for professional audiences and policy documents and reports. The process of transition may extend to 2011.'