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e-Government

: I shall go to it immediately after the debate. One of the problems with the parliamentary website, among others, is that from the looks of it it has been built up by people who are used to the old pre-internet ways of dealing with things. They put completely irrelevant distinctions between the Journal Office, the Table Office and the Vote Office on the website. No one who goes to a website wants to know about that; they are just rooms in buildings. We want to know how to get information. For example, if one wants to know the date of the next Transport questions, how does one look it up on the website? In the agenda for the day? No, it is not there. So where does one go? Eventually it can be found on the bulletin board, which is something that I thought went out about 20 years ago. Anyway, it will all be revamped and we will be much the wiser. As many hon. Members said, it is important that customers are involved in the development of Government websites. I very much hope therefore that right hon. and hon. Members have been involved in the revamping of the parliamentary website. I have one final question for the Minister: who will pay for all the e-Government? It is a very expensive business. Local government is told that it must get much more of its stuff online, but will central Government provide money for local councils to do so, or will they say that everything will be so efficient that local government will pay for it all out of those efficiencies? Computers do not usually save money; they just enable us to do more. There may well be money issues that the Minister needs to address. This has been a timely debate. In fact, it is overdue. E-Government is a vital aspect of our lives. There are worries that we need to guard against, but having guarded against them, I have been heartened by the commitment shown and very much look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say.