I'm not sure that apps are easier to find than sites, I find google web search much easier to use than the google play app search for example. Plus I know that

I'm not sure that apps are easier to find than sites, I find google web search much easier to use than the google play app search for example. Plus I know that when I see a .gov.uk website that I am definitely dealing with a government system. If I see an app on the store called "UK Tax App" or whatever it's less obvious whether this an official app or something pretending to be. You could probably bridge the "home screen" gap by simply producing an app for each platform that just starts the default browser to some particular site. Probably good enough for most cases. There's also the cost angle. Since the government is supposed to be inclusive they shouldn't really favour one particular mobile ecosystem over another. So they are likely going to have to produce apps for iOS , Android (and test on a lot of versions/devices) as well as Windows phone and potentially Ubuntu phone, Firefox OS etc in the future. And they have to keep all these in reasonable lockstep regards features etc. The most cost effective way to do this is to use the web which is the best cross platform system out there.