Website maintenance at Stormont cost £5.5m
Northern Ireland government departments have spent more than £5.5m over a three-year period maintaining websites, it emerged yesterday.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) spent 2m, while the Department of Agriculture (DARD) was next with a spend of 736,078, followed by the Department of Social Development (DSD) with 720,236 and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) with 704,560.
Ulster Unionist Upper Bann MLA Sam Gardiner uncovered the figures through an Assembly Question and said he had concerns about the amounts being spent on maintaining websites over the past three years.
He said the overall annual spend on website maintenance has increased over the three year period from 1,629,907 in 2007/2008 to 1,896,442 in 2009/2010.
“The spending in some departments has risen dramatically. DSD, for example, has increased from 140,007 in 2007/2008 to 388,504 in 2009/10 while the spending in others such as Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) has dropped from 232,138 in 2007/2008 to just 102,247 in 2009/2010,” he said.
“The Department of Environment (DOE) spend has more than doubled in the same period from 93,949 in 2007/2008 to 191,204 in 2009/2010 and the Department for Regional Development (DRD) spend had also more than doubled from 44,163 in 2007/2008 to 96,543 in 2009/2010. DETI spending peaked in 2008/2009 at 791,056 and was down last year to 626,420.”
Meanwhile the Department of Education had the lowest spend of just 5,000 a year in each of the three years from 2007/2008 to 2009/2010.
Mr Gardiner said that the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) told him they were in the process of consolidating government websites.
“They hope to cut website numbers from the present 90 to some 25,” he said.
“NI Direct will become the main focus for all government information as the key channel between citizens and the government.”
Mr Gardiner said he is still waiting for a response from the Department of Finance and the Department of Health about how much they have spent maintaining their websites.
In response to the Assembly Question, OFMDFM said: “The consolidation of government websites will lead to a marked reduction in website numbers – from 90 to approximately 25 and eventually a saving in the resources required to manage government websites.
“The completion of the consolidation project will further enhance the position of NI Direct as the key government channel for online citizen information.”
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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