§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how much of the e-Government budget has been(a) allocated to and (b) spent on (i) parish councils and (ii) town councils; and if he will make a statement; [147427]
(2) whether (a) parish councils and (b) town councils are included in the e-Government targets for local authorities to be on line by 2005; and if he will make a statement. [147428]
§ Phil HopeThe Government's target to see all services electronically enabled by 2005 only applies to local authorities and fire authorities who are subject to the Best Value Performance Indicator 157, and does not apply to town and parish councils.
As they are not subject to this target, parish councils are not being funded directly under the £675 million Local e-Government Programme. However, many councils are working very successfully with local parish councils to both support their websites and to build local parish content into community public portals. Our National Strategy for Local e-Government encourages all councils to have this joined-up approach to providing local online services and information. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is funding 66 Local e-Government Partnerships to provide Community Portals, which will include local parish content.