§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) for how long he retains documents referred to in parliamentary answers on his Department's website; [72289]
(2) whether it is his policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via his Department's website. [72270]
§ Mr. LeslieMy office aims to be as helpful as possible in responding to hon. Members' questions. Where it is helpful to refer hon. Members to other documents as part of the substantive reply, this may be done by making hard copies of documents available in the Libraries of the House, or by reference to material available on the office's website.
Minimum requirements for the type of documents which should be published on Government websites are set out in guidance issued by the Office of the E-Envoy, `Guidelines for Government Websites' (Illustrated Handbook for web management teams section 2.2 'What content should be on your website?' and section 2.3 `Cross-government requirements'). In addition to setting out guidelines on documents for inclusion, the guidance explicitly requires Departments to ensure that content of the site as a whole is up to date and current, and where it is necessary to update the content of individual documents, to show the latest date of amendment clearly on the document concerned. Section 1.2.7 deals with the issue of Record management and the Office of the e-Envoy currently has a consultation paper out on archiving websites. The purpose of this draft annexe to the Illustrated Handbook is to provide government website managers with a framework towards developing within their website management policy suitable procedures and systems to assist in the management, appraisal and preservation of electronic records. A copy of this draft is available online at http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk:/ webguidelines.htm
A copy of the Guidelines for UK Government websites is available at http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/ webguidelines.htm