The UK Government’s Modernising Government programme, begun in 1999, called for the delivery of high quality public services, to be made available seven days a week, 365 days a year. This led to the development of a central portal from which citizens could gain ready access to services and information from many sources. To achieve this, a programme to develop and implement a standard metadata system was undertaken. The policy is to use simple Dublin Core until an enhanced version, with additional elements, is developed and tested. A system of vocabulary control for the Subject element is being developed. Such a standard is also being considered by other national governments with similar demands.