UK government pledges support for MS Internet Explorer -

The UK government said that it will stick to Internet Explorer, despite the recent security scares and has no plans to shift to alternative browsers.

Lord West of Spithead, a parliamentary under secretary in the Home Office was responding to a question from Liberal Democrat peer Lord Avebury. Lord Avebury asked whether the government will review the use of IE throughout the public sector, in light of the recent Google hacks.

Lord West said: "We take internet security very seriously. The UK Government have worked with Microsoft and other suppliers over many years to understand the security of the products used by HMG, including Internet Explorer. Each department is responsible for managing the risks to its IT systems based on government information security and assurance policy and technical advice from CESG, the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance."

He added that there's no evidence that moving from the latest fully patched versions of Internet Explorer to other browsers wil make users more secure.

"A government Internet Explorer user, operating on government systems, such as the GSI (Government Secure Internet), will benefit from additional security measures, unlikely to be available to the average home computer user."

We hope that Lord West never has to eat his words. The UK government has a lamentable record of security and many government projects have gone over budget or just don't work.