This is despite the government's belief that IE6 is "no longer fit for purpose as a corporate web browser," according to guidance Whitehall published today, as part of the Government ICT Strategy, on overcoming technical barriers to accessing the internet and social media.

In addition, the government's information assurance body, CESG, "strongly advocates running the latest version of a browser, as older versions do not have the security mitigations the newer browsers have."

The guidance has been published alongside a document encouraging civil servants to engage more with each other and with citizens through social media channels.

Recommendations that the government has produced for departments to work around the infrastructure issues range from upgrading internet browsers or deploying a second, modern browser, to providing employees with mobile devices giving them richer internet access.

However, one of the common factors holding departments from upgrading their internet browser is that some legacy web applications, such as HR and finance portals, were designed only to work with older versions of the internet browsers.