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Online Services

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of Government services are currently available online through the internet. [119934]

Mr. Ian McCartney: My Department is currently preparing the spring 2000 report monitoring progress towards the targets for electronic service delivery, which will identify the information requested by the hon. Member. I will be placing the report in the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list the targets she has set concerning the online availability of Government services. [119967]

Mr. Ian McCartney: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon (Angela Smith) on 30 March 2000, Official Report, column 203W.

People's Panel

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will publish the 3, 4 and 5 waves of quantitative research carried out through the People's Panel. [120009]

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Mr. Ian McCartney: The Government are committed to publishing the results of research carried out using the People's Panel. The results of the third wave of research were published on 15 July 1999, and the fourth wave of research on 3 April 2000. On 17 January 2000 we also published the results of a re-analysis of the first three waves of research which looked at the attitudes of older people. On each occasion, publication was announced by issue of a press release and copies of summaries placed in the House Libraries and on the People's Panel website at www.servicefirst.gov.uk/index/pphome.htm.

The fifth wave of research, examining people's satisfaction with, and expectations of, public services is currently under way. We plan to publish the results in July.

Executive Agencies and NDPBs

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the timetable is for future option studies for executive agencies and NDPBs. [120008]

Mr. Stringer: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Mr. Jenkins) on 7 March 2000, Official Report, columns 608-09W. The Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies 1999 Report, Cm 4657, and the Executive Agencies 1999 Report, Cm 4658, which were published and laid in both Houses on that day listed the current position regarding the quinquennial review of the non-departmental public bodies and the agencies included in each report.

Performance and Innovation Unit

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what meetings she has had with the Prime Minister to discuss the work of the Performance and Innovation Unit on management of cross-cutting policies. [119953]

Marjorie Mowlam: I have not had any meetings with the Prime Minister specifically to discuss the work of the Performance and Innovation Unit on management of cross-cutting policies, but this subject does come up from time to time in our frequent discussions across a range of subjects.

Social Exclusion Unit

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what meetings she has had with the Prime Minister in the current year to discuss the work of the Social Exclusion Unit. [119956]

Marjorie Mowlam: I have not had any meetings with the Prime Minister in the current year specifically to discuss the work of the Social Exclusion Unit, but this subject does come up from time to time in our frequent discussions across the range of my responsibilities.

Press Officers

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many times press officers have accompanied Ministers on foreign visits in each of the past three years. [119931]

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Marjorie Mowlam: Details of press officers accompanying Ministers on foreign visits are not held centrally. I can, however, respond regarding foreign visits of Cabinet Office Ministers since May 1997.

As Minister for the Cabinet Office I have not been accompanied by a press officer on any of my foreign visits, nor was my predecessor. Records indicate that, since May 1997, press officers have accompanied other Cabinet Office Ministers as follows: my right hon. Friend the Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on five occasions and my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Kilfoyle) on two occasions.

Government Car Service

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list gross expenditure on the Government Car Service in 1999-2000. [120058]

Mr. Ian McCartney: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated under the terms of the Framework Document to the Government Car and Despatch Agency. I have asked its Chief Executive, Mr. Nick Matheson, to write to the hon. Gentleman.

Letter from Nick Matheson to Mr. Andrew Lansley, dated April 2000:

The Minister of State, Cabinet Office has asked me in my capacity as the Chief Executive responsible for the Government Car Service to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the gross expenditure for the Agency in 1999-2000.
The estimated gross expenditure for the Government Car Service for 1999-2000 is £7.7 million. The accounts for the full year are currently being finalised and will be audited by the NAO.

Regulatory Impact Assessments

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what plans she has to review the operation of regulatory impact assessments. [119936]

Mr. Stringer: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas) on 10 April 2000, Official Report, column 53W.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many Departments have reported on their regulatory performance in departmental reports published in April 2000 in terms agreed with the Regulatory Impact Unit. [120011]

Mr. Stringer: All of the key regulatory Departments have published Regulatory Reporting sections in their Annual Departmental Reports. The key Departments are:

Department of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Treasury, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Inland Revenue, Department of Health, Home Office, Health and Safety Executive, Department for Education and Employment, Customs and Excise.

Social Exclusion Funds

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will introduce new arrangements for providing funds to deprived communities to tackle social exclusion that do not rely on matched funding from the communities concerned; and if she will make a statement. [119577]

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Marjorie Mowlam: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister launched consultation on 12 April on the Social Exclusion Unit's framework National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. This includes analysis of the obstacles to securing funding in deprived communities and proposals to overcome them.

In addition, this Government have already committed £800 million over 10 years to the New Deal for Communities programme which is being used to regenerate some of England's poorest neighbourhoods.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Museums and Galleries (London)

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which national museums and galleries in London are funded by his Department. [119806]

Mr. Alan Howarth: The national museums and galleries in London sponsored by my Department are as follows: the British Museum; the Imperial War Museum, including its branches at the Cabinet War Rooms and HMS Belfast; the National Gallery; the National Maritime Museum, encompassing the Royal Observatory, Greenwich; the National Portrait Gallery; the Natural History Museum; the National Museum of Science and industry (the Science Museum); the Tate Gallery, encompassing Tate Britain and Tate Modern; the Victoria and Albert Museum, including its branches at the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood and the Theatre Museum, Covent Garden and the Wallace Collection. The Royal Armouries, which has a major museum at Leeds, and the Museum of Artillery at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth, also has a site within the Tower of London.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of the use his Department, its agencies and public bodies will make of the powers relating to the authorised obtaining of communications data in Part I, Chapter II of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill once the Bill is enacted. [119512]

Mr. Chris Smith: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 19 April 2000, Official Report, column 509W.

Online Services

Mr. Robert Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the services which (a) his Department and (b) the executive agencies responsible to his Department (i) provide online and (ii) expect to be deliverable online by 2002. [119445]

Mr. Chris Smith: My Department is currently collecting data as input into the Cabinet Office spring 2000 report on the progress towards the delivery of all Government services electronically by 2005. I do not want to pre-empt that report but I can say that we are looking very closely at the opportunities arising from electronic service delivery. My Department relaunched its website a month ago providing access to a range of departmental information and services as well as linking out to our

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wider sectors who are already creating a range of exciting online services such as the 24 Hour Museum and the BTA's "VisitBritain" tourist information site. These are already proving very popular and provide an indication of how service delivery will develop over the coming years.

This is an area that is fundamental to my Department's aims of quality, access, education and developing the creative economy, and our service delivery plans will reflect this.

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