HC Deb 20 May 2002 vol 386 cc67-70W
Richard Younger-Ross

To ask the Solicitor-General what has been the total expenditure of his Department on IT systems and support in each year from May 1997 to date; how many IT contracts have been let in each of those years; of the other main contracting party in each of those contracts, how many have been(a) companies whose registered office is in (i) England and Wales, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Northern Ireland and (b) foreign companies; and what are the names of the companies falling within category (a). [33692]

The Solicitor-General

[holding answer 7 February 2002J: The total expenditure of the CPS on IT systems and support from May 1997 to date was:

£million
1997–98 4.28
1998–99 9.83
1999–2000 7.36
2000–01 21.74
2001–02 21.82

Records show that a total of 40 contracts were let during this period, as follows:

Number of contracts
1997–98 9
1998–99 10
1999–2000 9
2000–01 6
2001–02 6

The 34 businesses that are the main contracting parties in each of the contracts, all have their registered offices in England and Wales. None of the main contracting parties have their registered office in Scotland, Northern Ireland or foreign countries.

The names of the companies that are within category (a) are:

  • ACG Computer Consultants
  • Action Computers Ltd.
  • Admiral Computing Ltd.
  • Anite Group Ltd.
  • Bull Information Systems Ltd.
  • 68W
  • Cable and Wireless
  • CMG UK Ltd.
  • Computacenter plc
  • Computer People Ltd.
  • Cornwell Affiliates plc
  • CSI
  • DBI Consulting Ltd.
  • DCS Computers Ltd.
  • Elan Computing Ltd.
  • Equanet Ltd.
  • Ericsson Mobile Communications (UK) Ltd.
  • Ernst and Young Ltd.
  • Global Crossing Communications Ltd.
  • Hedra Ltd.
  • Integris Ltd.
  • Kermon Ltd. (Xansa)
  • Kudos Partnership
  • Logica UK Ltd.
  • Lorien plc
  • Macline Ltd.
  • Network Designers Ltd.
  • Oakley Computer Ltd.
  • P and P Corporate Systems
  • Parity Resources Ltd.
  • Pentos Systems plc
  • Sema Group Ltd.
  • Simdell Ltd.
  • Vantagepoint Hardware Services Ltd.
  • Yale Data Management Consultants Ltd.

The Serious Fraud Office's total expenditure on IT systems and support in each year from May 1997 to date was as follows:

£
1997–98 807,000
1998–99 988,000
1999–2000 1,090,000
2000–01 1,920,000
2001–02 1,930,000

The number of IT contracts let in each of those years was:

IT contracts let
1997
1998 1
1999
2000
2001 1
2002

These contracts were signed with companies registered in England and Wales. One of them was negotiated with IBM (UK) plc, the other was with Cedar Group plc.

Although the Serious Fraud Office negotiated other contracts for IT services, these were small and the costs of researching the details of the companies involved would be disproportionate.Since May 1997 the Treasury Solicitor's Department's expenditure on IT systems including telecoms has been as follows.

£
IT Systems Telecoms Total
1997–98 475,531 124,740 600,271
1998–99 647,711 147,707 795,418
1999–2000 523,361 140,600 663,961
2000–01 1,052,515 160,380 1,212,895
2001–02 924,267 130,829 11,055,096
1 Year to date.

In addition the Department incurred the following paybill expenditure on staff to support and develop IT systems.

£
1997–98 248,468
1998–99 326,400
1999–2000 449,200
2000–01 558,852
2001–02 1497,681
1 Year to date.

The Department has used framework contracts under the aegis of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC): GCat for the supply of IT goods; and S-CAT for the supply of IT services. The Department routinely sources hardware, software and IT services under these contracts and such purchases do not constitute separate contracts in their own right.

Purchases of equipment, software and services have been made from a variety of suppliers under both framework contracts, the main ones being:

  • Compaq Computer Ltd.
  • Dell Computer Corporation Ltd.
  • Specialist Computer Centres Ltd.
  • Computacenter (UK) Ltd.
  • PC World Business Direct
  • Cedar Group plc
  • Cathedral Consortium (HEDRA) Ltd.
  • Elan Computing Ltd.
  • Insight Consulting
  • Methods Application Ltd.
  • Parity Solutions Ltd.
  • Yale Data Management Consultants Ltd.

In addition to its use of the OGC framework contracts, the Treasury Solicitor's Department has let IT contracts to the following companies, all of whose registered offices are in England and Wales:

  • 1998—Sirsi Ltd.
  • 1999—Grant Thornton Ltd.
  • 2002—TSL Ltd.

The Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers total expenditure on IT systems and support in each year from May 1997 to date was as follows:

£
1997–98 92,625
1998–99 35,992
1999–2000 30,492
2000–01 37,576
2001–02 40,387

The number of IT contracts let in each of those years was:

Number of contracts
1997
1998 1
1999
2000 1
2001
2001

These contracts were signed with companies registered in England and Wales. One of them was negotiated with 4Front Networks and the other with Selection Services.