More than 600 government websites will be shut down to save money, it has been announced.
Francis Maude, minister for the cabinet office, said he wants to scrap "unnecessary and expensive government websites and slash the cost of the remaining sites to save millions of pounds".
Figures released today show central government has spent £94 million on the construction, set up and running costs of just 46 websites, and £32 million on staff costs for those sites, in 2009-10.
The cabinet office identified two of the most expensive websites - uktradeinvest.gov.uk costs £11.78 per visit and businesslink.gov.uk costs £2.15 per visit.
All of the existing 820 government-funded websites will be subject to a review looking at cost, usage and whether they could share resources better.
No new websites will be permitted except for those that pass through a stringent exceptions process for special cases
"This government is completely committed to getting the government web back under control," said Maude.
"The days of 'vanity' sites are over.
"It is not good enough to have websites which do not deliver the high quality services which people expect and deserve.
"That is why we will take tough action to get rid of those which are not up to the job and do not offer good value for money and introduce strict guidelines for those that remain."
Maude said he will be working with the government's 'digital champion', internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, on how to "further transform government websites as part of our drive to put key public services online and to increase the number of people who are able to use the Internet".
Lane Fox will also look at sharing resources and facilities and using low-cost open source products to reduce running costs.
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