Government communications are not all the same, and we have the evidence to prove it with the latest Sitemorse survey covering a total of 353 UK central government websites. Our survey found hugely different standards of quality in these sites, and the biggest and best-known departmental websites were often at the low end of performance.

Leading the way in this, the second central government survey of 2011, is the Health and Safety Executive site which scored a vigorous 8.97 out of a possible ten marks for function, accessibility, code quality and performance. The sprightly HSE website has stayed at the top since our last survey of this sector earlier this year, but other major government departments did not fare so well.

Skidding off the road and falling 272 places since our last survey with an overall score of just 1.09 is the Department for Transport (DfT). The DfT came bottom of the list this time.

Top websites in our survey also included HM Revenue and Customs, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, and NI Direct, the official government site for Northern Ireland citizens which aims to make it easier to access government information and services.

But well-known names at the bottom of our table also included the Scottish National Party and the Driving Standards Agency (part of the aforementioned DfT). Its mission may be Safe Driving for Life, but the DSA's web standards seem to be falling, and from a position around half-way down our table it has fallen almost to the bottom.

More details about the central government survey and how we test can be found elsewhere on the website.