Procedure and House Affairs committee  The information is stored on one host computer via the Government Digital Services. So that information isn't transferred onto personal computers or other hard drives. I would have to ask our technical guys to perhaps write with further information on the exact procedure that is taken to ensure full deletion.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The software, again, was put together by the Government Digital Service, but you're quite right, that software is now open-source software and is available for anyone else to use to establish their own petition system. Obviously, they will need some technical expertise to correctly configure it for a new system, but it is open-source software that is available.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think there are several aspects to it dealing specifically with the technical aspects. I think the initial implementation costs, capital costs, were somewhere around £80,000. The ongoing operating costs are roughly half of that, about £40,000 per annum. The Government Digital Service, as I've explained, work on a range of government services and sometimes allocate some of their available time to do small changes to the e-petition sites.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, thank you, Chair. It's a pleasure to be invited to give evidence to the committee today. If I could start with introductions, I'm Mike Winter, and I'm the head of office for the Leader of the House of Commons, the Right Honourable William Hague, MP. I have overall responsibility for ensuring delivery of parliamentary reform policy, including on e-petitions, for the Leader of the House of Commons on behalf of the U.K. government.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay, thank you. Yes. When we were setting up the system we worked with the Government Digital Service, which is responsible for implementing and overseeing the range of government digital provision to citizens. A decision was made very early on within the standard government protocols that we would store the minimum amount of information on individuals necessary to make the site workable.