§ Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he has yet finalised plans for the British Government's contribution to the February G7 conference on the information society.
§ Mr. Ian TaylorI shall be attending the G7 ministerial conference on the Information Society in Brussels on 24612W to 26 February. Ministers will hold discussions on three broad themes: the regulatory framework and competition policy; development of information infrastructure; and social, societal and cultural aspects of the information society. The conference will also launch a number of pilot projects to demonstrate the scope for international collaboration in different areas of the information society. In my discussions I shall in particular be emphasising the importance of liberalisation of infrastructure in reducing prices, in order to encourage a wider range of services to be provided.