HL Deb 05 January 2004 vol 657 cc24-5WA
The Earl of Northesk

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why the United Kingdom has slipped from seventh in the World Economic Forum's networked readiness index rankings in 2002–03 to 15th in 2003–04; and what are the implications for their information technology strategy and policies. [HL370]

Lord Sainsbury of Turville

We welcome this piece of research by the World Economic Forum on the degree of a country's preparation to participate in and benefit from information and communication technology (ICT). However, it is difficult to draw many conclusions for policy development from a single piece of work such as this. The findings revealed by the networked readiness index need to be treated with care because of the changing nature of the variables used for year-on-year comparison, the high level of attitudinal input and a significant reliance on data from 2001 or earlier.

The Government are aware of the challenge in making the UK a world leader in the use of ICT. By learning from the overall pool of evidence, to which the World Economic Forum report can contribute, we will continue to develop strategies and policies to provide a favourable environment for ICT usage in the UK.

The Earl of Northesk

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the figures from the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report, which show that the United Kingdom is eighth in the rankings in terms of competition in the Internet service provider market but sixty-seventh in the affordability of Internet access, are satisfactory; and what implications this has for their information technology targets. [HL371]

Lord Sainsbury of Turville

The UK appears to perform relatively well on competition among Internet service providers, but the findings seem to be based solely on the opinion of executives. As regards the cost of Internet access, the findings of the Global Information Technology Report appear to be very much at odds with those of the more regular and focused Oftel benchmarking. According to Oftel, the United Kingdom is, on average, at least 25 per cent cheaper than France, Germany, Sweden and the United States for cost of access of residential Internet services.

The Government are aware of the challenge in making the UK a world leader in the use of ICT. By learning from the overall pool of evidence, to which the World Economic Forum report can contribute, we will continue to develop information technology policies to provide a favourable environment for ICT usage in the UK.