The qualification rate for official websites of provincial governments and ministerial departments reached 97 percent in the third quarter of 2017, according to a circular issued by the State Council on Nov 30.

The State Council recently inspected all levels of government websites over the third quarter.

According to the document, the number of operating government websites reached 29,431 by Sept 1, 2017.

The State Council’s general office conducted a random inspection of 500 websites of provincial governments and ministerial departments, of which 97 percent were qualified, 3 percentage points higher than the second quarter.

It’s worth noting that the websites of Beijing, Tianjin, Hainan, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps remained at 100 percent qualified over three quarters in a row.

All provincial regions and 71 departments of the State Council selected 12,466 websites under their respective administration, which accounted for 42 percent of government websites with a 94 percent total qualification rate.

Valid messages via platforms for netizens to point out errors appearing on government websites totaled 14,210 in the third quarter, among which 98 percent were answered. For 17 websites picked from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the figure reached 100 percent.

During the third quarter, all regions and departments had strengthened efforts to bolster the accountability mechanisms of disqualified government websites and staff, and a number of persons in charge received punishments for breach of duty. Meanwhile, regulations on administration, intensive construction, and service levels were also high on the agenda.

Some problems surfaced in the process, such as unregulated website titles, absence of key portals, deficiencies in functionality and mistakes induced by substandard day-to-day operations.

Based on the results of the inspection, the circular urged stepping up the development and management of government websites and offering people an efficient and convenient access to e-governments.

Regions and departments at all levels should advance the administration for the titles and domain names of government websites. Efforts should also be made to make timely replies and solutions to the messages left by netizens, the circular stressed.

Regions and departments are expected to report the rectifications of their substandard regulations on websites to the General Office of the State Council no later than Dec 20, according to the circular.