Further to the answer to question S1W-10883 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 16 January 2001, what progress has been made in the delivery of online…

Our modernising agenda is about improving choice in the way services are delivered. The Scottish Executive is therefore committed to a multi-channel approach for the delivery of online public services and is continuing to explore a variety of platforms, including the use of interactive digital television, public kiosks, Personal Digital Assistants, the internet and WAP phones. As part of this, the Scottish Executive is paying close attention to the development of the Your Guide pilot project in Post Offices in Leicestershire and Rutland. Arrangements have been made for ministers and officials from the Scottish Executive to see the project first hand. The pilot will of course have to be comprehensively evaluated to assess the case for national roll out. In particular those organisations wishing to use Your Guide will need to examine carefully how a national service could fit in with their wider service delivery plans, how far it could help in achieving greater efficiencies and whether it would provide value for money compared with alternative direct channels to the public. Until these evaluations are complete, it would be premature to discuss details such as responsibility for the provision of equipment. I can assure you, however, that the Scottish Executive is examining this project and its potential implications for Scotland with great care and that we are committed to finding ways to achieve citizen-centred public service delivery.As regards progress in the delivery of online public services, the Electronic Service Delivery Progress Report, published on 16 November 2001, details the services provided by the Scottish Executive, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies. That report shows that 66% of services are now available online, though the majority of these relate to the provision of information. The second Electronic Service Delivery Progress Report is currently being prepared and will be published shortly.