§ The Earl of Northeskasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will reach their policy objective of the United Kingdom being the best place among the G7 for e-business given recent reports indicating the United Kingdom's low standing on a number of criteria in the international league tables. [HL1853]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)Yes. Good progress is already being made. The international benchmarking study,The World's Most Effective Policies For The e-Economy, prepared in 2002 by Booz Allen Hamilton for the Office of the e-Envoy and the DTI ranks the UK as having the second best environment in the world for e-commerce, second only to the USA.
The study attributes this achievement to strong venture capital markets, competitive internet access costs on broadband and dial-up, strong leadership of the e-agenda and a very supportive regulatory environment. UK broadband prices have reduced from among the most expensive in the G7 to among the cheapest.
More remains to be done, particularly to improve UK performance in uptake and use of information and communications technologies. Government policies are being developed to address these areas.