Government Paperwork Reduction and Electronic Information (Hansard, 1 March 1995)

§ Mr. David Shaw (Dover)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to introduce a programme for the development of secure electronic information systems within Government, to reduce reliance on paperwork and hard copy files, and to ensure easier public access to certain information. I am grateful to the House for the considerable interest that it is showing in the Internet and the information super-highway. My Bill would increase the accessibility of central and local government; increase the openness of Government, in which great strides have already been made; improve and develop necessary security systems within Government; help people in terms of education, training and employment; reduce paperwork within Government; improve the efficiency of Government; and maintain the United Kingdom Parliament as the leading Parliament in Europe and the world.

My Bill is timely because technology has advanced during the past 10 years in a way that enables 'people to have on-line access to worldwide information in their homes. Some 3.3 million households in the United Kingdom have home computers but only a small proportion are on line. The current growth in the number of people with access to on-line information is I million a year.

Last weekend, a G7 conference took place in Brussels on the information super-highway. It was attended by my hon. Friend the Member for Esher (Mr. Taylor), the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Technology, who admirably put the United Kingdom's position and, as a result, obtained for us an important role in developing a Government on-line system. We are now responsible for the worldwide development of Government on-line systems.

Last October, the UK Government also went on line with a World Wide Web server known as http:\\www.open.gov.uk. In the past four months, some half a million people have gained access to that server, which is under the responsibility of my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Hughes), the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service and Science. The Public Record Office is the most recent Government Department to provide information and has gone on line this week to join some 30 Departments and agencies of Government which are currently on line.

Three local government councils are on line, the most impressive being Conservative Brent council, which has published the Audit Commission information on its performance. One can find out how quickly Brent will reply to letters now that it is on line. The National Audit Office report published today also makes my Bill timely because it deals with information technology security in Government Departments. Public awareness of that matter is growing. The Internet is a worldwide network of telecommunications and communications access. It enables people, by direct or telephone access, to get on-line information. Many people around the world—some 30 million to 40 million—have access to it.

The World Wide Web, through which people can gain access to databases through the Internet, is a British invention. It was developed by British people at the CERN nuclear physics laboratory in Geneva. It has 1050 enabled easy access to on-line databases. The only skill required by users is the ability to read a page and press a button on the computer.

One of the main reasons why I believe that my Bill is necessary is that it will result in the Government helping to create new opportunities for Britain and British business. The White house went on line recently, and started receiving 40,000 electronic mail letters a month. The President and his staff could not cope with American systems, so they employed a British company to develop British software to deal with the mail that the White house receives.

That British company, known as Kinesis, is in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Swindon (Mr. Coombs). My hon. Friend is giving full support to that company in obtaining international contracts. It is a successful British entrepreneurial company, marketing world wide and showing the White house in America how British business works and how to make the White house work better.

I believe that there are other opportunities for British business as a result of the information super-highway. Software companies in Britain lead the world in many fields. Hardware companies and systems design opportunities offer tremendous opportunities for British business.

I shall now briefly outline the clauses of my Bill.

There will be an accountability clause, which will require all Ministers' offices to be capable of receiving and replying to letters from Members of Parliament by electronic mail within 12 months. All Government Departments will publish their annual reports and accounts on the Internet within 12 months. All Government Departments should set up systems to receive and reply to electronic mail from the public within two years. Local councils will be required to make their accounts, their Audit Commission information and the telephone numbers of their major staff available on the Internet, so that our constituents can speak to real human beings at the other end of the telephone.

The security of Government systems will be required to be improved, so that there cannot be unauthorised hacking and so that data protection can be ensured. One hopes that British companies will bid for new contracts, in which computer fire walls will be properly set up and methods to prevent external hacking will be implemented.

The Public Record Office should be responsible for taking and securing historic back-ups of data, and Government Departments should be required to implement other back-ups.

Education, training and employment are covered in a separate clause. We have Super-JANET, a world-beating computer network, developed in Britain by our universities as a result of the Government's support. I propose that schools training information should go on line, and my Bill will ensure that access to Super-JANET and university computer systems is available to United Kingdom primary and secondary school pupils. I also believe that training and skills opportunities might be developed as a result of the Internet and access to the Internet.

I pay tribute to schools in my constituency which are helping their students to go on line, and the Kent training and enterprise council, which is supporting that.

1051 There will be clauses in my Bill to cover paperwork reduction, openness and efficiency of Government. Paper is slow and inefficient, and it requires large numbers of typists in Whitehall. It is time that we had type-your-own civil servants.

There are about 6 million files in Whitehall on paper. Whitehall is awash with millions of pieces of paper. We could speed up the processes of Government if Whitehall went electronic. I propose that many files should go electronic, and that more information in those files should he made available to the public.

Finally I propose that Parliament should go on line, that Members of Parliament should go on line, that we should all have electronic mail addresses within 12 months, that Hansard should be on line within 12 months, and that anyone in the world should be capable of reading what we say. Information about this Parliament, the mother of Parliaments, should be accessible to our constituents and to anyone in the world.

Yesterday evening I was able to dial into the House of Representatives from my home in London to see what Congressmen were saying. I believe that Parliament should be on line. Ours is the leading Parliament in the world, and we should maintain our lead by going on line. My Bill proposes just that.