§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what use he plans to make of the Internet to make government more open. [5095]
§ Mr. StrawMy Department will continue to pursue its programme of publishing material on the Internet whenever suitable opportunities arise.
The Home Office site www.homeoffice.gov.uk includes two pages of information about my Department's open government policies. The first, www.homeoffice.gov.uk/opengovl.htm, gives details of the system for making suggestions or complaints. The second, www.homeoffice.gov.uk/opengov2.htm, sets out the procedures for requesting information.
A wide range of information is available on the site, which is updated continually, and at present contains 288 pages. It has already been used to make consultation papers available more widely. It was also the first Government site to include details of its new ministerial team, and has links to other Government and relevant public sector pages.