HC Deb 19 October 1989 vol 158 cc211-2W
Mr. Warren

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which Minister in his Department is responsible for day-to-day management of his Department's information technology strategy; and what proportion of his time was spent on this matter in the month up to Friday 13 October.

Mr. Curry

The day-to-day management of the Ministry's information technology (IT) strategy is the responsibility of officials. I am the Minister responsible for oversight of IT matters in the Department. IT is in general so integrated into the Department's business functions that to attempt to apportion specific intervals of a Minister's time to its consideration would involve a disproportionate effort to obtain.

Mr. Warren

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many officials in his Department at grade 3 and above have, since promotion to the level of grade 3, attended a course(a) specifically on information technology and (b) containing an element of information technology; and what percentage each represents of all the staff in those grades in his Department.

Mr. Curry

Our formal records show that two officials in this Department at grade 3 and above have, since promotion to the level of grade 3, attended courses specifically on information technology. Thirteen have attended courses containing an element of information technology. This represents 6 per cent. and 38 per cent. of all the staff in those grades in the Department. In addition a number of senior officials have attended a selection of seminars/training sessions specifically on information technology, if appropriate to the area of work on which they are engaged. Attendances at these sessions is riot formally recorded.

Many staff are, of course, already trained on information technology before achieving promotion to grade 3.

Mr. Warren

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many work stations excluding stand-alone word processors are currently installed in his Department; and what is the ratio of such work stations to civil servants.

Mr. Curry

The Ministry currently has about 2,100 work stations (excluding stand-alone word processors) in use. This represents a 1:5 ratio of work stations to civil servants.