PARLIAMENT: THE INTERNET - Whitehall could save by improving its websites

SIR HUMPHREY should log on to the Net more often, says a new report, which warns that Whitehall is failing to reap the benefits of the world wide Web.

Government departments have fallen behind countries such as Australia, the United States and Germany in the quality of information presented on the Internet, the National Audit Office report said.

Though generally encouraging, the report said the Government could make huge savings by using the Internet more in dealing with the public.

"If 2 per cent of the 160 million phone calls a year the Department of Social Security receives could be shifted to people looking up material on the Department's website, [the DSS] could save pounds 7.7m annually," it notes, and adds: "There is scope for similar savings across government."

In Australia, 75 per cent of tax forms are already filed electronically - a system that has only just been introduced in the United Kingdom. In the report, the Inland Revenue is cited among departments using bad practices. "The user-friendly graphics version of the Revenue's guide for self- assessment included an option called only by the mysterious initials `EVR'," it noted. The audit office later learnt that stood for "electronic version of [tax] return".