§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) on what date the Citizen Information Project feasibility study was submitted to Ministers; when he expects the Office for National Statistics to publish the full text of the study; what the reason is for the delay in publication; and if he will make a statement; [162391]
(2) what form public consultation on the Citizen Information Project proposals will take; and on what timescale. [162392]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the General Registrar for England and Wales, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Mark Oaten, dated 18 March 2004:
As Registrar General for England and Wales, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions on the Citizen Information Project (162391 and 162392),A report on the Citizen Information Project feasibility study was presented to Ministers in June 2003. A full information note on the Citizen Information Project was published on 6 January 2004. A copy was placed in the Library of the House. At the same time I announced that Ministers had approved a 'project definition1 stage of development work. The project definition stage is now under way and I expect to report to Ministers in 2005 on whether or not this work should proceed to implementation.Public consultation on the Citizen Information Project proposals is provisionally scheduled for the autumn of 2004. It will be conducted in line with Cabinet Office guidelines, as published by the Regulatory Impact Unit in January 2004.