HC Deb 29 July 1998 vol 317 cc369-70W
Mr. Ian Bruce

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to correspond electronically with(a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public. [49851]

Ms Jowell

[holding answer 13 July 1998]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 17 July 1998, Official Report, column 315, regarding corresponding electronically with hon. Members.

The Department has set up a number of mechanisms to correspond electronically with members of the public. On the central DH internet site, a number of specific email boxes are available covering a number of areas, including open government, research and development and the regional offices. In addition, a number of committees, including the Royal Commission for the Long Term Care of the Elderly, the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, the Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment also have email boxes. Among the Department's Agencies, the Medical Devices Agency have an email mailbox for general inquiries, the Medicines Control Agency have an email mailbox for the Committee on Safety of Medicines, and National Health Service Estates has an email mailbox used for complaints and general inquiries.

The Department's internet site also has a number of web pages with electronic feedback forms, including those for the Chief Medical Officer, performance tables, NHS Annual Report 95/96, as well as a general feedback form for the whole site.

As well as the range of specific email boxes the Department has, it is also currently examining the setting up of a corporate email box for general correspondence.

Mr. Kaufman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he intends to reply to the letters to him dated 16 March, 18 May and 22 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to support of the section 64 funding application by HIV Alliance. [53259]

Mr. Dobson

I have replied today to my right hon. Friend's letter of 16 March 1998. The Department has no record of receiving the letters dated 18 May or 22 June, but I understand that they were reminders relating to his earlier letter.