HC Deb 19 December 1995 vol 268 cc1115-6W
Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will(a) place in the Library a copy of the full study report referred to in paragraph 12, (b) list the computer services referred to in paragraph 13 and (c) list the computer system faults referred to in paragraph 18 of the memorandum submitted by the Information Technology Services Agency to the Social Security Committee and published with the Committee's fifth report of Session 1994–95, the work of the Department of Social Security and its agencies (HC382). [4333]

Mr. Burt

It would not be appropriate to place a copy of the full study report in the library. The report contains information which is commercial in confidence, and also contains technical, security, and audit details, which would have potential security implications if in the public domain.

The operational accounting system functionality is a customised version of the accounting portion of the FLORIDA—Florida recipient integrated data access—application. It is composed of the following modules:

  • Financial Management and Control Module
  • Collection Module
  • Distribution Module
  • Disbursement Module
  • Enforcement Module
  • Reporting Module
  • Data Exchange Module.

Maintenance and Assessment, another adaptation from modules within FLORIDA, provides the following facilities:

  • Client Registration
  • Interactive Interview
  • Aging and Tracking
  • Case Load Management
  • Client Notices
  • Reporting
  • Enquiry
  • History Maintenance
  • Security Maintenance.

Three faults, relating to the incorrect issue of notifications by the child support computer system were recorded, analysed and corrected.

Fault 1: Relates to notifications which invited payment even though funds are already held through payment of a lump sum which has been allocated and de-allocated through a clerical process.Fault 2: Relates to incorrect amounts contained within notifications because of a fault in a weekly to monthly conversion routine. Variations were always small in value.Fault 3: Relates to requests for incorrect direct debit payments in certain circumstances following the restart of a computer program after failure in a specific area of processing.
Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 27 November,Official Report, column 510, in respect of the legal dispute between EDS and Computer Associates, on which occasions his Department was able to obtain the Computer Associates products (a) Telon and (b) Eastrieve for use with the CSA computer system; what impact access to these products had on the completion of the project; and how much his Department had to pay for these products. [4692]

Mr. Burt

The Department obtained licences to run the Computer Associates products TELON and Easytrieve on the new child support computer system from 24 November 1992. The system as provided by EDS could not have been run without these products. They were obtained in sufficient time to ensure that successful delivery of the system was unaffected.

The cost of the products is commercial in confidence.