§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what assessment he has made of the impact of the Office of the e-Envoy on the delivery of Government services online; and if he will make a statement; [160024]
(2) what assessment he has made of the progress of the Office of the e-Envoy; and if he will make a statement. [160022]
§ Mr. AlexanderIn 2002 the Information Age Partnership commissioned a major assessment of the UK's performance across the e-agenda leading to the publication of an independent international benchmarking report, 'The world's most effective policies for the e-economy'. The benchmarking results showed that the UK had made particularly strong progress with low internet access prices and high embedding of ICT in education. The report also found that UK's 'e-government readiness'—defined as the preparedness of government to engage and drive the e-agenda, and particularly deliver e-government—was a strength relative to G7 nations. The Office of the e-Envoy is working with departments towards the target of achieving 100 per cent. of services online by 2005 with key services achieving high levels of use. 68 per cent. of government services are now available electronically.
§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many(a)special advisers and (b)staff in total are employed in the Office of the e-Envoy. [160025]
1513W
§ Mr. AlexanderNo special advisers are employed in the Office of the e-Envoy. On 1 March 2004 there were 102 staff in post in the office of the e-Envoy.