THE Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website has become part of the single GOV.UK domain.

Most Defra information – including news, publications, policy details, consultations and statistics – moved to www.gov.uk/defra on Wednesday (10 April).

Any visitors to old defra.gov.uk addresses for this information should automatically be redirected to corresponding information on the new website.

This means that if, as an organisation, your own website links to Defra then you shouldn't need to do anything immediate but Defra does suggest reviewing your links.

The department said it hoped any inconvenience was kept to a minimum and it appreciated support and patience while it moved over to GOV.UK.

Some information with defra.gov.uk addresses, such as advisory committees and some specialist guidance will not move to GOV.UK until later this year when the defra.gov.uk site will close.

Delivery bodies such as Rural Payments Agency, Environment Agency and Natural England will also be moving to GOV.UK over the course of the next year.

The aim of GOV.UK is to be 'simpler, clearer and faster' for users, bringing online information and services from government together in one place.

But so far the new website has received a mixed response.

It won a Digital Design of the Year award from the Design Museum.

The project could save the public £50 million a year by building a platform to make web publishing simpler for government and delivering more services online.

But some users have found it hard to find the information they need on the new site.

Some 18 Ministerial departments are already on GOV.UK, including DECC, DCLG, BIS, DfT, Cabinet Office and FCO.

By the end of April, the GOV.UK site will have replaced all departmental websites, including No.10 Downing Street.