§ 33. Mr. TimmsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans she has to stimulate the development of Internet access services in the UK. [10058]
§ Mrs. RocheThe Department of Trade and Industry is fully committed to the development of the information society in the UK and is enthusiastically pushing forward the "Information Society Initiative—Programme for Business" which encourages the informed uptake of networked services by British business. The DTI will also be developing an enterprise zone. This will be an Internet-based service for small and medium companies, providing a "one stop access point" to key information and to sources of further support for SMEs. The Government are also working internationally to secure the right conditions for fostering the optimal use of the Internet through work on security, intellectual property rights and self-regulation, the latter based on existing law and the existing penalties. The market in the Uk is itself expanding very fast, with many active Internet service providers allowing users access to a wide variety of contents and applications.