§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her Department's information technology budget was for each year since 1997. [153543]
§ Ms HewittTotal spending by Department of Trade and Industry, (excluding agencies), on Information Technology was £12.1 million in 1998–99. Subsequent to this the Department entered into a PFI partnership agreement with UNITAS, (a consortium of Fujitsu and Logical/CMG), for the provision of the majority of its IT services and support. Total spending by the Department on IT in the following years was £15 million in 1999–2000, £30 million in 2000–01, £32 million in 2001–02 and £41 million in 2002–03. Spend for 2003–04 is forecast at £45 million. The equivalent figure is not readily available for 1997–98.
These figures do not include payments made to suppliers of IT services not covered by the PFI contract referred to since they are not available from a central source.