§ Mr. BarnesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his Department's policy regarding the recycling of information technology equipment within his Department and relevant agencies and to other Government departments or agencies; and what arrangements have been made in this respect. [23281]
§ Mrs. Liddell[holding answer 21 Janaury 1998]: The disposal of information technology (IT) equipment within the Treasury is governed by the objective of obtaining the best value for money. Our current procedure is firstly to see if it can be used elsewhere in the Department, and then if internal recycling is not possible to dispose of it to a third party organisation for refurbishment and recycling elsewhere.
Until the latter part of last year we had a contract for the disposal of surplus IT equipment with RD Computers Ltd., which was awarded following a procurement competition initiated about two years ago. We currently have arrangements with the Disposal Sales Agency of Ministry of Defence and ware constantly seeking for companies who can improve the value for money aspects of this process.