HC Deb 17 January 2001 vol 361 cc288-9W
19. Mr. Fabricant

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment she has made of progress in achieving the Government's targets in use of information technology within the civil service, with special reference to the provision of forms for the use of the public. [144217]

Mr. Ian McCartney

The Government continue to make strong progress towards the Prime Minister's target that by 2005 all Government services should be available online.

We have a good story to tell: for central Government we have identified 451 services to the citizen and to business and already one third of them are available online. Many of these replace simple forms to request information, and some Government forms are now fully downloadable, such as those for the Court service.

Things you can do online now include: ordering and paying for a company's financial returns, checking to see if you need hospital treatment, find out if it is safe to visit foreign countries, fill out a tax form, The public can also keep up to date with what is happening in Parliament and contact the Ombudsman online, Employees and employers can interactively calculate pay rates and entitlements under the National Minimum Wage regulations with further interactive guides to employment law to follow, and get a local weather forecast to help plan your day using your mobile phone (SMS or WAP).

Much more detail about Government service than I can give here may be found in the reports monitoring progress towards the targets for electronic service. These include details of the innovative approaches that Departments have planned for future services.

The spring 2000 report has been placed in the Libraries of the House. My Department is preparing the autumn 2000 monitoring report which I will be also placing in the Libraries of the House.

Online information is available from "things you can do online now" www.e-envoy.gov.uk/online_now.htm

24. Dr. George Turner

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment she makes of progress towards Government targets for the use of information and communications technology in transactions with the public. [144222]

Mr. Ian McCartney

The Government continue to make strong progress towards the Prime Minister's target that by 2005 all Government services should be available online.

We have a good story to tell: for central Government we have identified 451 services to the citizen and to business and already one third of them are available online

Things you can do online now include: ordering and payment for a company's financial returns, checking to see if you need hospital treatment, find out if it is safe to visit foreign countries, fill out a tax form, the public can also keep up to date with what is happening in Parliament and contact the Ombudsman online, employees and employers can interactively calculate pay rates and entitlements under the national minimum wage regulations with further interactive guides to employment law to follow, and get a local weather forecast to help plan your day using your mobile phone (SMS or WAP).

Much more detail about Government service than I can give here may be found in the reports monitoring progress towards the targets for electronic service. These include details of the innovative approaches that Departments have planned for future services.

The spring 2000 report has been placed in the Libraries of the House. My Department is preparing the autumn 2000 monitoring report which I will be placing in the Libraries of the House.