A new government website designed to give the public easy access to information on services has ‘secret pages’ that only public sector employees can access in an emergency, it has been reported.

The hidden information is part of the government’s business continuity planning to ensure staff know what to do if, for example, riots prevent them getting to work or a flood makes their offices uninhabitable.

Phones numbers and updates about whether staff offices are accessible, or where to go if not, will be hosted on the www.gov.uk site, a one-stop-shop for information on benefits claims, passport applications or pensions.

Details of the business continuity plans, which staff will view on pages called ‘Inside Government’, were revealed when notes made by a digital developer working on the site were seen by a Telegraph journalist.

A note on features still to be added to www.gov.uk, was titled: “Hidden page for staff in emergencies.”
The project developer wrote: “I need a page on inside gov which is not linked to from any part of the site where I can post updates for my organisation's staff about access to the office and IT systems during an emergency, so I can meet business continuity plan requirements.

“Depts issue all their staff with a card (a bit like a donor card) with info about how to check if it's safe to come to work when there's something going down. This includes a phone number and a web address.

“We need to provide such a page, to be shared by all orgs, and redirect all their old ones to this one.

“No need for any security, the info is not secret,” the note said.

The website will replace online Directgov and Business Link services and will launch officially on the 17th of October, although a ‘Beta’ test site is currently available.