Structure and contacts on a public-body website: what to publish and how to present it
The Structure and contacts section is one of the most visited parts of any public-body website. Visitors expect to find not only a general phone number, but a clear picture of who runs the organisation, how it is divided into departments, who is responsible for what and how to reach them. This matters for local authorities, schools, libraries, museums, arts centres and health and social-care bodies alike, whose websites serve residents, businesses and supervisory bodies at the same time.
Part of this is a legal duty under freedom of information law. In Ireland, every FOI body must prepare and publish a publication scheme that includes a general description of its structure and organisation, functions, powers and duties, and the services it provides to the public (Freedom of Information Act 2014, section 8). In Malta, public authorities covered by the Act must publish a description of their structure, functions and responsibilities and update it at least annually; publication on a publicly accessible website is enough (Freedom of Information Act, Cap. 496, article 17). The rest of this article is good practice: how to turn those duties into a section people can actually use.
The section should be clearly structured, easy to reach and kept up to date. The information must respect GDPR and the accessibility rules: contacts must be easy to find and understand, and an organisation chart must be readable by people who use assistive technologies.
1. Management structure and leadership
Publish an organisation chart that shows reporting lines, how departments relate to each other and who is responsible for what. It helps residents and partners work out quickly which department or person to contact about a specific question. If the chart is an image, give the same information as text or a list next to it, so that screen reader users get it too.
Many public bodies also publish a photo and short biography of the head of the organisation and the senior management team. This builds transparency and trust, but publish only the personal data that the purpose genuinely requires.
2. Meetings and decisions
Where the body has a board, council or management committee, publish its meeting schedule, agendas and minutes, or link to where they are kept. Residents and journalists use this to follow how decisions are made, and it saves staff from answering the same questions by phone.
3. Staff directory and contact details
A staff directory with name, job title, phone number and email address, or a functional mailbox per team, lets residents reach the right specialist directly and reduces calls to the main switchboard. In Ireland the publication scheme must also give the names and job titles of the staff responsible for some of these arrangements and the address for FOI requests; in Malta the authority must give the details of the officer to whom access requests should be sent.
Keep the directory in line with GDPR. Under the data minimisation principle, personal data must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary. For many roles a job title and a team mailbox are enough; publish named contacts where the public genuinely needs them.
4. Roles and responsibilities
Next to each team or role, describe in a sentence or two what it is responsible for. This helps residents understand who deals with their issue, and helps the organisation present how its work is organised. It is especially useful for schools, cultural organisations and local authority departments, where people often search for a person by area of work. Write in plain language and avoid internal jargon.
5. Opening hours and general contacts
State clearly the reception or front-desk opening hours, the main phone number and the general email address. This is one of the most searched-for pieces of information, so it should be visible straight away, without clicking through several pages.
Add how remote service, appointments and walk-in visits work. For local authorities, health centres, schools and libraries this removes a lot of uncertainty and makes services easier to use.
6. Departments and what they do
If the organisation has several departments, give each one its own short description and contacts. A visitor should understand the difference between, for example, the Planning, Housing, Library and Finance sections, and which questions go to which. Describe what the department actually does day to day rather than repeating its formal remit.
7. Bodies under your remit
If other bodies fall under your organisation, list them and show separately those that provide services to the public. This matters especially for local authorities, whose remit can include schools, libraries, museums, arts centres and social-care services. For each one, give a link to its website, its address and main contacts.
8. Committees and working groups
Publish information about committees and working groups set up for specific tasks: their name, why and when they were set up, their remit and, where relevant, their outputs or documents. This shows how decisions are prepared, for example in procurement, cultural funding, education or community projects.
How to present this section well
- Use a clear structure. Split the content into sub-sections with real headings, so visitors do not have to read one long block of text. This improves both usability and accessibility.
- Make it accessible. Contacts, tables, charts and documents must work for people with disabilities: clear headings, sufficient contrast, meaningful link text and text alternatives for images, in line with WCAG 2.1 AA. See WCAG compliance for public-sector organisations.
- Update it promptly. When staff, departments or opening hours change, update the page straight away. Outdated contacts undermine trust and make it harder to serve residents. Malta’s FOI Act requires at least an annual update; in practice, change it the day the information changes.
- Respect GDPR. Publish only the personal data that is needed, and keep internal information separate from what is public. See GDPR requirements for public-sector websites.
A well-prepared Structure and contacts section makes a public body understandable, reachable and trustworthy. It is part of meeting freedom of information duties, and a large part of good public service that residents, community members and partners use every day. This article is part of our series on what public-sector websites must do and publish.