HC Deb 17 November 2000 vol 356 cc817-8W
Mr. Laxton

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the last meeting of the Cabinet Office Central IT Unit on e-government took place; and when the next meeting will be. [138740]

Marjorie Mowlam

The Central IT Unit (CITU) has not existed as a separate Division within the Cabinet Office since it was subsumed into the Office of the e-Envoy in July this year. At the same time it was renamed the "e-government group".

The Central Information Technology Unit (CITU) was set up in November 1995. CITU's remit was to advise Ministers on the development of their strategy for the use of IT by Government.

Current activities include taking forward the Information Age Government agenda of the Modernising Government White Paper including the follow up work to "e-government: a strategic framework for public services in the Information Age". This work includes advising Departments on the development of their own e-business strategies and monitoring progress on the Prime Minister's target that by 2005 100 per cent. of dealings with Government should be available.

This work now sits within the Office of the e-Envoy, a group comprising approximately 75 people organised in three groups:

  • e-government
  • e-commerce
  • e-communication.

The website contains full information about all of their work: www.e-envoy.gov.uk