Doncaster Council

What is Government Connect?

Government Connect (GC) is an initiative by local authorities, the local e-Government programme of the DCLG and the e-Government Unit of the Cabinet Office. 

It launched in March 2005, bringing together a range of essential tools, from technical solutions to practical advice, which will enable local authorities to take advantage of their investment in electronic service delivery. 

Government Connect helps local authorities to address the fundamental challenges involved in joining up to deliver better and more effective services.   

Government Connect:  

• Improves the delivery of services to customers
• Helps local authorities to improve performance
• Supports joint working and communication.   

What is Government Connect Core?

Government Connect Core provides a range of solutions selected to enable secure communication between citizens, local authorities, public sector bodies and Government Departments. It is structured around the delivery of the three core products each designed to compliment existing local authority infrastructure: 

Government Connect Register - offers a toolkit and common technology to enable local authorities to authenticate the people and organisations with whom they communicate. In essence, once a citizen has registered and authenticated themselves online using GC Register, all subsequent transactions will use this authentication, which means that citizens will no longer be asked for the same information again and again as they use different services from different providers. 

Government Connect Exchange - provides an affordable, stable platform to share information between local authorities and Central Government, using structured XML messaging technology. GC Exchange is underpinned by a secured connection between local authorities and the Central Government Intranet (GSi). 

Government Connect Mail - enables secure email between local authorities and other GC Mail will ultimately provide local authorities with its own extranet, capable of being linked to the Government's GSI network.