§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for what reason the cost of the Department's website is projected to rise to £550,000 in the year 2000–01. [74008]
841W
§ Mr. MeacherDETR's Web site has grown rapidly in the past year: the number of hits per month is 16 times higher and the volume of information on the site has trebled. This is in line with the Government's policy of making as much information as possible available via electronic media.
The projected rise in expenditure reflects continued anticipated growth in the provision of on-line information over the next two years. It also reflects the development of e-commerce platforms and more on-line searchable databases.