To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office

(1) if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to change (a) the level of staffing and (b) the role of the Office of the e-Envoy;

(2) how many staff have worked in the Office of the e-Envoy in each month since its establishment;

(3) if he will make a statement on the work of the Office of the e-Envoy since its establishment.

The Office of the e-Envoy was established in September 1999. The following table shows how many staff have worked in the Office of the e-Envoy in each month since this date. All figures are rounded to full-time equivalents (FTE) . The Office of the e-Envoy business plan for the 2003–04 financial year assumes an average of 122 FTE staff.

Last November, the Office of the e-Envoy published its third UK online annual report. The report provides a comprehensive summary of the work of the Office and makes recommendations for future activity.

It also highlighted the results of an independent e-economy benchmarking study which found the UK to be second only to the USA in terms of its environment for e-commerce.

The E-Minister, Patricia Hewitt and the e-Envoy, Andrew Pinder also provide a monthly update to the PM outlining activity.

Copies of the annual and monthly reports are available in the Library of the House, from the Office of the e-Envoy and online at www.e-envoy.gov.uk.

Note:

Figures are full-time equivalents rounded to nearest whole number.