§ Dr. StrangTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what information has been made public by her Department or by agencies of her Department concerning the commissioning, costs and subsequent cancellation of the project to establish a sample management system;
428W(2) if she will set out all provisions requiring her Department to make public details of the setting up, costs and progress of all computer projects undertaken or commissioned by her Department or by agencies of her Department;
(3) how much money was spent by (a) the Central Veterinary Laboratory and (b) her Department and other agencies of her Department on the sample management system;
(4) what sum was received by the Central Veterinary Laboratory in respect of the legal settlement with ACT over the failure by ACT to carry out the development of the sample management system.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardA contract for the development of a sample management system, funded by the Ministry's information technology directorate was awarded to ACT Medisys in November 1990. On completion of the development of the project, its ownership was to have been taken over by the Central Veterinary Laboratory. Serious development delays were however identified early in the project, which was then suspended in August 1991. Following a review and subsequent negotiations, there was a mutual agreement to cease the contract in December 1992.
The terms of the contractual arrangements for this project, including those covering the termination, are commercially confidential, although the figures are open to scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General in the usual way. Under the terms of the settlement secured by the Ministry, compensation—in the form of computer hardware, software and a cash sum—fully recompensed the Ministry for the costs involved. As the value of the compensation covered the relevant expenditure, there was no loss to report in the Ministry's appropriation accounts. Those accounts were duly audited by the National Audit Office.
The Ministry's requirement to provide, publicly, details of computer projects is generally limited to the advertising of major projects—as required in accordance with the EC's supplies and services directives and appropriate General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade regulations—in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Details of any subsequent award of contract are similarly advertised. Additionally, agency accounts, audited by the National Audit Office, will be prepared in accordance with commercial style accrual accounting principles and include information at appropriate levels of detail.