§ Mr. AllenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the Internet electronic mail addresses of(a) his Department and (b) each Minister in his Department; and if he will make a statement on his Department's approach to the information super-highway. [17733]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorSome 2,000 of the Department's staff can currently be contacted via Internet/X400 service email. For this reason, it is not practicable to list all the addresses. This number will rise to 5,000 over the next 18 months as our office automation programme—OSPREY—is fully implemented. All Ministers will be added to OSPREY during this summer's recess. In the meantime, my own Internet account is taylor@mintech.demon.co.uk.
1185WI have instigated a programme to consider and develop the Department's usage from a strategic perspective, which will consider the potential for full Internet access from OSPREY workstations, along with the creation of a data server dedicated to supply departmental information to the Internet community.
The Department's approach to the information super-highway has been set out in evidence to the Select Committee on Trade and Industry and in debates in the House, as well as in the Command Paper, dated November 1994 which is on the Internet at
http://www.open.gov.uk/dti/broadband-comms/anx-9.htm.