To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what resources have been committed each year since 1979 by his Department to the development of environmental information software and computer-based environmental research; and what steps have been taken to disseminate this information. [40481]

The Department makes information about the environment and environmental research publicly available via a wide range of databases and more recently the Internet. Details on each system have not been collated centrally and it would entail disproportionate cost to provide the annual resource estimates requested. Guidance on the use of systems is available to the public from the Department's library. They include:

• The RESLINE database containing details of the Department's research.
• Details of all Departmental publications in the British Library BLAISE database.
• Data supplied to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council for inclusion on the UK FOCUS and AGREP databases.
• The BRIX and FLAIR databases produced by the Building Research Establishment in which environmental matters form a significant part.
• The Department's World Wide Web home page (http://www.open.gov.doe/) on the Internet which includes UK environmental statistics based on those published in the Department's annual 'Digest of Environmental Statistics', 'Air Quality Information', and the 'Air Quality Archive'.

Systems under development include the European information and observation network—EIONET—which will connect member states to the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen and gather information on the state of the environment at the European level.