To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what her policy is in respect of the installation and use of (a) Internet Explorer, (b) Firefox and (c) Opera website browsers by Government departments.

[Official Report, 24 February 2010, Vol. 506, c. 603W.]

Letter of correction from Angela E. Smith:

Errors have been identified in the response given to the right hon. Member for Horsham (Mr. Maude) on 24 February 2010. The words “such as Firefox and Opera” and “such as Internet Explorer” were incorrectly included in the answer.

The correct answer should have been: (318248)

Government policy regarding installation and use of web browsers is that all decisions must be in line with value for money requirements. In addition, the Open Source, Open Standards, Re-use strategy requires Departments to consider open source browsers on a level basis with proprietary browsers.

The strategy can be found at:

www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/318020/open_source.pdf