§ Mr. VazTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many(a) portable telephones, (b) pagers and electronic bleepers and (c) car telephones are currently used by her Department; what are the annual costs of operating this equipment; and to which personnel it is made available.
§ Mr. JackThe Ministry and associated agencies currently have approximately 1,200 mobile telephones of various types. This figure includes carphones, but these are normally issued only to Ministers and to some members of senior management.
The Ministry currently has approximately 500 radio pagers, including tone, numeric and message pagers.
The Ministry has centrally arranged call-off contracts for the provision of mobile telephones and radio pagers but financial and procurement responsibility for such equipment rest with local managers. However, total expenditure for service rental and call charges for 1993–94 was approximately £398,855.
The Ministry and its associated executive agencies have a large number of field officers providing service to food, farming and fishing interests. In order that the service can be fast and efficient, these officers need to be able to make contact and be contacted whatever their situation.
Local management evaluate the business need and financial justification and decide which type of equipment is best suited to meet requirements and to whom it should be issued. Financial, technical and procurement advice is provided centrally.