The government has formally backed a proposed House of Commons e-petitioning system designed to enhance public engagement with Parliament.

Deputy Commons leader Barbara Keeley said ministers' sole concern over earlier proposals from the Commons Procedure Committee - which included built-in safeguards ensuring the involvement of MPs in the process - had been the £4m price tag.

But in a formal government response to the Procedure Committee report, Keeley said the new Modernisation Committee proposed by prime minister Gordon Brown would "consider how members of the public might be able to initiate debates and proceedings in the House".

She said she hoped the new committee would look at the role "a simpler, cheaper form of online communication" might play "whether in the form of an e-petitions system or something slightly different".

Current Commons procedures provide for the presentation of petitions in paper form with the actual signatures of supporters, and backbench "motions" in the form of statements that are never actually debated but which demonstrate the strength of support for an issue by the number of MPs who add their names.

Commons leader Harriet Harman has also introduced a debate roughly once a week on a "topical issue" that is not necessarily a high priority with the main party or government agendas.

It is understood that the intention is for e-petitions that gather more than a set threshold of support online to be allocated that time slot on the Parliamentary agenda, effectively forcing MPs to debate the popular public issue of the day.

One of the the most popular e-petitions on the 10 Downing Street web site this year called for Gordon Brown to resign as prime minister.