After my earlier blog post outlining the mysterious disappearance of the DfE’s Targeted Basic Need Programme website, two key things happened.
One – Adrian Short found a cached version of the original TBNP website
https://twitter.com/adrianshort/status/428108259103232000
And here it is. See its many shiny links!:
Seeing the page again made me notice the datestamp. 12 December 2013. Remember that.
Then, a second thing happened:
The targeted basic need web pages were removed in error and are now back up. There has been no change to the programme.
— DfE (@educationgovuk) January 28, 2014
Hurray! [Though I’m a bit perplexed about why anyone had ever thought there were changes to the programme itself?!]
The suggestion from within was that this was an “error” caused by the cleaning up of the website ready for the transition to the absolutely terrible GOV.UK website. This might well be true, but it’s hard to tell. Let’s just hope this all-too-convenient error doesn’t become a trend.
One thing did strike me as odd though. This is what the barren TBNP website looked like yesterday.
Note its date stamp. 26 July 2013.
If you were “clearing up” a website why would you choose to go back to a prior version (26 July) rather than just stick with the one you just had (12 December)? Beats me. Maybe this is the proof it really was a cock-up.
But, there’s one more thing…
Today’s site is better. There are now more links giving info about the process:
BUT – several documents still haven’t made it across. Particularly those related to the application process. (They are the PDF links you can see in the right hand bar of the first image above).
I assume these documents are still making their way across in this comedy of website errors. Let’s hope they make it safely and don’t get lost a second time.
Little Miss Sherlock, well done you.
Reblogged this on The Echo Chamber.