§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What powers the Governors of HM Prisons have to order small items of information technology capital equipment such as printer replacements. [HL4366]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonOn 29 February 2000, HM Prison Service and Electronic Data Systems Ltd (EDS) entered into a contractual partnership agreement (Public Finance Initiative/Public Private Partnership) for the provision to include the supply of IT and telephony services. Following contract award, we entered a period of transition designed to prepare for the transfer of responsibilities and capabilities to EDS. EDS assumed responsibility formally on 3 July 2000. This is known as Cutover date. The term of the partnership is for 12 years, with the replacement of existing infrastucture to take place gradually across the service in the first two years following Cutover.
A user guide was issued in June explaining to all Prison Service managers how to use the EDS service in the interim. For example, faulty or broken equipment will be repaired or replaced by EDS in response to a call to their helpdesk.