§ Dr. IddonTo ask the Solicitor-General if the appeal made by five of the men convicted at Bolton Crown court of homosexual activity in private has been listed for a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights; and if it is the British. Government's intention to defend the appeal. [3460]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyI have been asked to respond on behalf of the Solicitor-General. The case of Connell and othersv.UK has not been listed for hearing by the European Court of Human Rights. The court has extended
102WCrown Prosecution Service
A list of contracts awarded by the Crown Prosecution Service since 1993 is shown in the table. Records are not available for the period before April 1993.
Serious Fraud Office
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) signed a PFI contract with IBM in January 1998 to develop an integrated document management system for the SFO. As an additional service, IBM took on the management of the internal IT services. This latter contract was to run for seven years, with the option to extend for a further three years. The estimated value of the contract over its life was £15 million. Since 1998 £4.8 million has been paid to IBM. In September 2000 a variation to the contract was agreed under which IBM continued to provide internal IT systems for a further three years.
In 2000 it was recognised by SFO and IBM that it was no longer appropriate to continue with the development of the document management system due to changes in the SFO' s business environment and in technology. No payments have been made to IBM in respect of their work on the integrated document management system.
Treasury Solicitor's Department
The Treasury Solicitor's Department has not entered into any information technology contracts in excess of £500,000 since April 1991.
the period in which the Government can submit written observations on the case to allow it to negotiate a friendly settlement with the applicants. We are actively pursuing such a settlement with the applicants' representatives.