E-business Projects (Hansard, 25 October 2000)

§ Dr. Moonie

[holding answer 23 October 2000]The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not have a separately identified budget for e-business projects. Exploitation of new electronic means of doing business—which might132W also be labelled as e-commerce, e-Government, or responding to the information age—is taking place across the range of MOD activities. The budget for any given project therefore normally forms part of the wider budget for the individual MOD management area that is responsible for its delivery. Nevertheless, there are a number of MOD projects of this type that are of sufficient size and importance for their individual budgets to be readably identifiable. These include the following:

Defence Electronic Commerce Service (DECS)

The Defence Logistics Organisation is developing DECS, a new electronic procurement system that will include on-line catalogues of products and automatic transaction facilities. DECS will provide the MOD with a single view of the Services' procurement needs and transactions, allow communication across a variety of technologies and departments, and speed up purchasing. The current provision for the DECS project is £45 million over 10 years.

Modernising Government Delivery

The Defence Procurement Agency is developing shared data environments with industrial partners on major equipment programmes and investing in web-based publishing and information exchange in business areas that communicate with industry and the general public. The current provision for this project is £10.5 million over five years.

On-line weather services and UK Hydrographic Office Information Services

The UK Meteorological Office and the UK Hydrographic Office provide specialist services on-line to industry and the general public. The UK Meteorological Office provides on-line weather forecasts and Severe Weather Warnings and can accept payment electronically. It is also developing mobile Internet and digital TV services. The overall cost of this programme is £2.5 million for this financial year. The UK Hydrographic Office is developing an on-line service for customers to request and pay for hydrographic information. The estimated cost of this programme is £7.5 million over five years.

Electronic Purchasing Service

The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency is implementing an electronic central inquiry service, information request service, and electronic purchasing to serve Government Departments, industry and the general public. The estimated start-up cost of this programme is £7.8 million.

In addition, the MOD remains committed to using the best available electronic technologies to improve our operational capabilities and enhance the effectiveness of the UK Armed Forces.

Further information on MOD IT projects delivering business support and front-line military capability is available in my letter to the hon. Member for Hereford (Mr. Keetch), dated 25 January 2000, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

In concert with other Government Departments, the MOD is producing a Departmental e-business strategy that will outline how we intend to achieve the Government's electronic service delivery targets. This document is expected to be published later this year and will be updated regularly.