§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans his Department has(a) to utilise the Internet, (b) to make available on the Internet press releases and other departmental information which the public may wish to have access to and (c) to use the Internet as a means of increasing the openness of his Department.
§ Mr. BaldryPress releases from my Department are already available on the Internet via commercial database hosts used by the Central Office of Information. There are some technical features, however, which currently make wider use of Internet impractical, although we are planning various improvements in electronic information exchange.