No time for vanity
The COI report is in response to a National Audit Office study published in 2007/2008, which investigated the progress in improving the government's internet practices.
Shockingly, it found it impossible to glean whether the websites represented good value for money as over a quarter of organisations were not aware how much their website cost to develop and there was no system in place to measure and report expenses.
The report recommended preventing the creation of unnecessary websites, merging similar sites and investigating costs. Consequently, by March this year, just over 1,000 of the websites identified in the study were shut down, with a further 422, earmarked for closure.
With budget cuts under way but politicians promising to protect services, Maude told the BBC: "The days of 'vanity' sites are over. It is not good enough to have websites which do not deliver the high quality services which people expect and deserve."
Maude will allegedly now work with Martha Lane Fox and the chief secretary to the treasury, Danny Alexander, on the review.
Former cabinet minister and Labour MP Tessa Jowell is reportedly cautious of a far-reaching website cull and told the BBC putting services online remains more efficient and saves money. "The measures announced today run the risk of being a wholly false economy, and may end up costing the Government more money than it is looking to save," she warned.
