HC Deb 07 March 2001 vol 364 cc258-9W
Helen Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Warrington, North constituency, the effects on Warrington, North of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [152313]

Ms Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 6 March 2001]: The principal kinds of funding which this Department has provided to Warrington in 1997–98 to 2000–01 are shown in the table. These include grants and borrowings approvals for revenue and capital expenditure.

It is not possible to determine how much money has been spent on Warrington, North. It is for the local authority to decide where within its boundary these resources are invested.

policy objective of the increased use of electronic signatures in communications (a) between officials, (b) from officials to persons and organisations outside and (c) from persons and organisations outside to officials in his Department. [152423]

Ms Beverley Hughes

DETR(C) is aware that Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and its associated use of encryption and digital signatures will be used to provide strong authentication, non-repudiation and confidentiality for transactions which are designated to be above Level 1 in the "Guidelines for Trust and Authentication" of the "Confidentiality Services Framework" as defined by Cabinet Office.

Our plans include:

(a) for internal use-DETR(C) is currently carrying out a routine maintenance upgrade of its networking infrastructure; the new revision of the software will support the use of electronic signatures. Further work is under way to identify appropriate electronic signature products to work with the revised infrastructure, and the most effective way to deploy them.

(b) from officials to persons and organisations outside and (c) from persons and organisations outside to officials in his Department—DETR(C) will ensure that our systems serve both the authentication needs for internal departmental communications, and for those with external persons and organisations. For that reason, we are in discussion with OGC, the E-envoy's office, CESG and the Gateway team so that the eventual solution will be compatible with facilities to be provided through the Government Gateway, the Government Secure Intranet and meet all interoperability requirements.