§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many on-line computer terminals were available in each division of Customs and Excise in each of the last three years; what assessment was made of system reliability; and who the providers of the IT system were. [53481]
§ Mr. BoatengThe following number of on-line computer terminals were available to Customs and Excise in the last three financial year:
- 31 March 2000–18,502
- 3I March 2001–1 9,669
- 31 March 2002–23,130
On 31 March 2000 responsibility (and ownership) for desktop and laptop computers passed to ICL (now Fujitsu Services) under a PFI contract. Responsibility for the IT system mainframes remains with Customs and Excise. Mainframe services are provided by in-house staff using mainframes, which have been purchased from Fujitsu.
Since the transfer of ownership to Fujitsu Services the level of service has been jointly monitored on a monthly basis. Although there were inevitable teething problems during national roll out/hand over, service standards have improved significantly in recent months and the monthly service report for March 2002 records a high level of service in nearly all areas.
Given major organisational changes within HMCE over the last three years a detailed breakdown of computer availability by division is not available in this format.