Business Link website costs £35m to run

The Business Link website costs £2.15 per visitor, it has been revealed, as the government announces plans to close up to 75% of publicly funded sites in an effort to save millions of pounds.

According to a report by the Central Office of Information, the running of 46 government websites cost £94m plus £32m in staffing costs in 2009/10.

The most expensive was BusinessLink.gov.uk, which provides advice to small companies, at a cost of £35.78m. That equates to £2.15 per visit. The UK Trade and Invest website cost much less at £4.7m but attracted only 399,501 users representing £11.78 per visit.

Following the findings, ministers said they intend to axe up to three quarters of the total 820 government-funded sites and force those that remain to reduce costs by 50%.