Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what Guidance he has issued to Government (a) departments and (b) agencies on the use of electronic signatures by people completing Government documents online.

The use of electronic signatures, seals and other trust services is addressed by two set of regulations - eIDAS (electronic identity and trust services), a 2014 European regulation, and the EITSET (Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions) Regulations 2016. The government guidance on eSignatures is published on GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electronic-signatures).

This guidance was last revised in August 2016 and is due to be revised within the next six months.