§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what web site his Department maintains on the Internet; what information is provided there; how often it is updated; what is the address; and if he or his Department answer questions and supply additional information through the Internet. [7563]
§ Mr. BoswellThe Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has no dedicated web site maintained on the Internet but currently uses the CCTA Government information service to publish information. MAFF has published the following documents through this service:
- Ministry aims and objectives
- Background to the Ministry
- UK Food and Farming in figures
- Getting further information from the Ministry
- Schools Science Competition.
The Internet web address of these pages is:
http://www.open.gov.uk/maff/pages/maffhome.htmUpdating is carried out when the statistics published as part of "UK Food and Farming" in figures change: the opportunity is then taken to update the other pages. Updates in 1995 were done in March, August, October and November.
Electronic mail access between Ministry staff and the Internet community, via MAFF's office system, Maiden, has been in place for over 12 months and is used to answer questions and provide information through the Internet. The gateway for public inquiries using e-mail is through the MAFF helpline service on:
helpline@inf.maff.gov.uk