Public information & services

• Public bodies


  • Governments and transport agencies are increasingly providing services online, allowing us to organise various aspects of our daily lives more easily
• Online services


  • Simple information displays (weather forecasts, transport timetables)
  • Interactive sites (bookings, queries)
• Medical records


  • Moving away from paper and X-ray film towards becoming completely digital
  • Allows patient records to be easily shared between departments within a hospital, and sometimes more widely with doctors' surgeries and other health workers
  • Doctors and nurses walk around wards with tablet computers and other forms of handheld devices, instead of files and clipboards
  • In remote rural areas, doctors can make use of computer networks or even mobile phones to make a diagnosis if they are unable to see the patient in person
• Information for travellers


  • Live online updates on road congestion and public transport
  • Arrivals information in stations and airports
  • Most people book plane journeys online
  • Some airlines only accept online bookings and will only issue electronic tickets
  • Many airlines require, or strongly encourage, passengers to check in online
  • You can track the locations of aeroplanes in real time using apps
• Government services


  • Online access to renew or apply for a passport, book a driving test, claim benefits, or fill in tax return
  • Local authorities provide digital information services (reserve or renew a library book online, learn online)
• The Office for National Statistics has been collecting statistics on the use of the internet since 1998 and has produced an annual report since 2006 based on surveys of people in the UK
• The internet was used daily or almost daily by 82% of adults (41.8 million) in Great Britain in 2016, compared with 78% (39.3 million) in 2015 and 35% (16.2 million) in 2006
• In 2016, 70% of adults accessed the internet 'on the go' using a mobile phone or smartphone, up from 66% in 2015 and nearly double the 2011 estimate of 36%
• Analysis of the use of smart TVs shows that 21% of adults used them to connect to the internet in 2016
• In 2016, 77% of adults bought goods or services online, up from 53% in 2008, but only up 1 percentage point from 2015
• Clothes or sports goods were purchased by 54% of adults, making them the most popular online purchase in 2016
• In 2016, 89% of households in Great Britain (23.7 million) had internet access, an increase from 86% in 2015 and 57% in 2006