§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement about the plans of his Department to make information available on the Internet and the documents which he intends to be made available on the Internet over the next year which will be accessible via the world wide web server "open.gov.uk" or any specific departmental server.
§ Sir John WheelerIn line with the open government code of practice published in April 1994, the Northern Ireland civil service has plans in the next year, in liaison with the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, the Government centre for information systems, to examine the potential of using Internet as an effective medium to make information available to the public domain. When this exercise is completed, the NICS will address the issue of what information it would be appropriate to make available. The NICS has already registered Internet addresses with the relevant authority in order to facilitate future use.