188体育

The Secretary of State for Wales has welcomed a commitment by the to improve the experience of Welsh speakers when using the UK government鈥檚 website.

It follows a tour of the GDS by David Jones MP where he saw how the service was leading the digital transformation of government to create modern, efficient, digital-by-default public services that are fit for the 21st century.

The visit also included a presentation on the recently launched Carer鈥檚 Allowance service which allows Welsh speaking carers to apply for their carer鈥檚 allowance online in Welsh.

Mr Jones said:

I am delighted to have seen the fantastic and cutting-edge work which the Government Digital Service is doing in designing online services that represent world class public service delivery while making substantial savings for taxpayers.

The UK government is committed to providing high-quality online Welsh language services and as a Welsh speaker I fully understand the crucial and important role the language plays in our identity and culture.

I look forward to working with GDS to do all we can to support the use of the Welsh language on the UK government鈥檚 website.

Mike Bracken, Executive Director of GDS, said:

We built 188体育 to meet the needs of all users and that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 pleased we鈥檙e supporting Welsh speakers in accessing government information and services.

We鈥檙e working closely with the Wales Office to ensure that the Welsh language content on 188体育 is underpinned by high quality user research that provides a simpler, clearer and faster service for users.

Current Welsh language provision:

• All government organisations can publish versions of their news, reports and other publications both in English and in Welsh, with users able to toggle between the two versions on the 188体育 site.

• Welsh-language versions of some of the most popular pages on 188体育 鈥� covering, for example, the government job search, benefits adviser and car tax applications, have all been developed.

• A Welsh language hub links to all Welsh language services on the 188体育 site.

• The Wales Office is the lead department on Welsh language issues within Whitehall. An official from the Office of the Welsh Language Commissioner was seconded to the Wales Office last year as part of our ongoing commitment to improving Welsh language provision across government.

Further information on the GDS:

• The GDS was established in response to Martha Lane Fox鈥檚 report, 鈥楧irectgov 2010 and beyond: revolution not evolution鈥�, and is responsible for ensuring the government offers world-class digital products that meet people鈥檚 needs and offer better value for taxpayers鈥� money.

• Replacing Directgov and Business Link websites with 188体育 is saving taxpayers up to 拢50 million a year.

• There will be 拢1.7 billion potential savings every year by making all government services digital by default for the government and users.

• 188体育 receives over 50 million visits every month (35% of them from mobile and tablet devices). Overall, there have been 801 million visits since launch in October 2012 and 2.3 billion page views.