Written question asked by Brian Jenkins (Labour) on Friday, 11 January 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 15 January 2008. It was answered by Gareth Thomas (Labour) on Wednesday, 20 February 2008 on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Departmental e-mail

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will take steps to reduce the number of hard copies of e-mails printed by officials in his Department.

Answer: The Department already makes use of the advantages offered by its ICT technology to minimise the amount of printed material. For example we have an effective Department wide document management system called MATRIX whereby users are able to store and retrieve e-mails for viewing online rather than printing them out. This service is available to staff whether they are in the office or working remotely. We are also planning an educational initiative for staff to remind them of e-mail best practice, one aspect of which is to minimise the hard copy printing of e-mails and attachments.

Secondary information