§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 30 October,Official Report, columns 922–23, what has been the cost to the Exchequer of the Information Technology Services Agency's visits to the United States Social Security Administration during the last 12 months; and what was the purpose of the visits.
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for the administration of the Information Technology Services Agency is a matter for the chief Executive, Mr. F. J. Kenworthy. He will reply to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Letter from F. J. Kenworthy to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 1 December 1992.
The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to the Parliamentary Question tabled by you on 24 November 1992, concerning my fact finding visit to the United States Social Security Administration. As Chief Executive of the Information Technology Services Agency I have responsibility for the Agencys travel expenditure.The visit referred to in the Secretary of States answer of the 30th of October, Official Report, columns 922–3, took place in July 1992. The main purpose of the visit was to attend a meeting of the 5 Countries IT sub-committee which took place in Ottawa, Canada. This is a group comprised of representatives from the Information Technology Divisions of the Social Security Departments of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The purpose of setting up the 5 countries meetings was to create a forum which is conducive to the sharing of knowledge and pooling of experience. The sub-committee meets a little less than once a year.Whilst in North America, I took the opportunity to visit the offices of the United States Social Security Administration in Baltimore to look at some of the technical advances that they have made in their utilisation of Information Technology. I was particularly interested in their use of kiosk technology and optical imaging and was keen to look at the improvements in service that this type of technology could offer to the public.Also during my visit to the US SSA I met with the Deputy Commissioner of Systems, Mr. DiPentima, to discuss the possibility of an exchange of technical staff between our two organisations. ITSA has already been involved in a number of exchanges with the other members of the 5 Countries and these have proved extremely worthwhile; resulting in a sharing of expertise which could otherwise only have been gained through the employment of consultants at, a considerable greater cost.The total cost of my visit to Canada and America was £5,341.03.