§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made towards the target set in 1998 for achievement in 1999 to 2002, to make the UK the best place in the world to trade electronically. [83597]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 26 November 2002]: The results of the joint DTI/Office of the e-Envoy independent International Benchmarking Study 2002 has shown that the UK is now one of the world's leading environments for electronic trading—indeed the study ranks the UK as the second best environment in the world for e-commerce, behind only the US.
This is a great achievement which the report attributes to the UK's low internet access cost, light touch regulatory environment, strong use of ICT in the education system, advanced venture capital markets and strong leadership of the agenda. UK broadband prices have reduced from among the most expensive in the G7 to among the cheapest.
Around 73 per cent, of UK business, with 10 or more employees, are now connected to the internet, an overall increase of 16 per cent, year on year since the target was set. At present 46 per cent, of internet users are buying online, up from 28 per cent, two years ago. B2B (Business to Business) sales remain significantly higher than B2C (Business to Consumer) amounting to £10.9 billion in 2001, which amounts to a 36 per cent, year on year growth.
994WTo date there are over 1.1 million broadband subscribers. There were only 180,000 subscribers this time last year and there has been an increase in the number of companies using broadband. 18 per cent, businesses with 10+ employees have a broadband connection, compared to 8 per cent, at the end of 2000.