Oral Answers to Questions

Jo Churchill Excerpts

Wednesday 8th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ben Gummer]

The Digital Economy Bill, which is passing through both Houses at the moment, does precisely that.

[Jo Churchill (Bury St Edmunds) (Con)]

10. What steps his Department is taking to use digital technologies to improve public services.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Ben Gummer)]

We are committed to improving public services through technology to transform the relationship between citizen and state. We are doing so through the use of tools such as Verify.

[Jo Churchill]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Will he reassure the House that the Government are doing everything they can to ensure that people can access public services online, particularly hard-to-reach groups such as those in my rural constituency of Bury St Edmunds?

[Ben Gummer]

The Government Digital Service has a specific programme to ensure that there is full access to Government digital services for all groups. Of course, by ensuring that we have good broadband connections in constituencies such as my hon. Friend’s we will enable people to access those services online in rural areas.