New e-envoy named

Former e-envoy Alex Allan with Tony Blair

By BBC News Online internet reporter Mark Ward

The UK finally has a new e-envoy.

Four months after the UK's first e-envoy, Alex Allan, resigned from the job, the man who has been standing in for him has been confirmed in the post.

Andrew Pinder, the former Inland Revenue technology boss, will act as the government's electronic evangelist and drive the move to a more digital democracy.

Alex Allan's decision to step down barely 12 months into his work was said to be for personal reasons.

Web target

Andrew Pinder has been given the post after a four-month search and interviews with 150 candidates failed to find a more suitable candidate.

Mr Pinder spent 18 years at the Inland Revenue, including a stint as technology director for the organisation, before leaving for the private sector. More recently, he has been acting as a consultant to the government on technology issues.

The e-envoy is the government advocate for all things electronic, and is supposed to encourage businesses and central government to make greater use of the internet to communicate with citizens and consumers.

The government has a long-standing aim to make all its services available via the web by 2005 and to give everyone in the country access to the net by this date. The job of e-envoy is a cabinet office post that reports directly to Tony Blair and electronic ministers Patricia Hewitt and Ian McCartney.