A key element of our strategy is to provide more accessible independent insight. We want people to be able to easily access our work on how well public resources are used and how public services can be improved. We also want to make it easier for those delivering public services to understand and apply the lessons from our work.
Our new website will help us do this.
We have adopted a user-centred approach to redeveloping the site, seeking input at each stage from our key users. We have kept features we know are important to you, such as clear report landing pages and being able to see what work we have in progress. Our research found that you would like us to improve how you can search, navigate, and explore the site to more easily find work that is most relevant to you. This is where we have focused most of our efforts.
What’s new?
Our financial audit and value for money reports are all still here, but finding them should become easier as our new search functionality improves. We have brought in clearer signposting and labelling of our publications and you can also now browse by a new set of topics to discover related items of interest.
We have given more prominence to our Insights work. Those of you working in public services wanted to be able to easily find resources to help you do your job better. We have created a single home for publications such as our lessons learned and good practice guides which draw together our insight from auditing all of government.
The NAO’s role is to help Parliament hold government to account so we have created a dedicated section for Parliamentarians which gives MPs and Peers a direct route to access our support. We have also made it easier for anyone to understand what the NAO does and how we work through our rewritten About us section. Our new contact form makes it simpler to get in touch with us, especially if you’re looking to make an FOI request or a whistleblowing disclosure.
We have opted for a simple visual design. Most of our effort here has been focused on making the navigation more intuitive and ensuring it works as well on mobile as it does on desktop. We have also made sure that the new site improves accessibility for a wide range of different users, and will meet the latest digital standards.
Future improvements and how to give feedback
This launch marks a major step in the redevelopment of our website. However, what you see now is not the final product. We are following best practice in website design by launching something that we can continue to improve based upon user interactions and feedback. This will allow us to focus future changes where they are most useful to you.
As you use the new site, you can let us know your thoughts via the yellow bar at the top of each page. If you’re a regular user of the site, tell us if there any tasks you used to do that now seem harder. If you have ideas for what we should improve next, let us know. We are keen to hear from you.
I hope you enjoy exploring the new site
Gareth Davies
Comptroller & Auditor General
