HC Deb 19 July 1995 vol 263 cc1303-4W
Mr. Boateng

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many bids have been received for work on(a) the extension of the CASEMAN county court computer system and (b) the renewal of the CREST Crown court computer system; what is the likely cost to public funds of each of these projects; and if he will list the names of any companies, and the value of the contracts awarded to them, with respect to (i) value for money work and (ii) other consultancy work for these projects. [35740]

Mr. John M. Taylor

The question concerns a specific operational matter on which the chief executive of the Court Service is best placed to provide an answer and I have accordingly asked the chief executive to reply direct.

Letter from M. D. Huebner to Mr. Paul Boateng, dated 19 July 1995: The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, has asked me to reply to your Question about the number of bids that have been received and the likely cost of work on

  1. (a) the extension of the CASEMAN County Court computer system, and
  2. (b) the renewal of the CREST Crown Court computer system, with the names of any companies awarded consultancy contracts and the value of those contracts.
The CASEMAN computer system forms part of the LOCCS project, which is designed to provide comprehensive computer support to local county courts. The project is subject to a Private Finance Initiative procurement exercise, which was advertised in the Official journal of the European Community on 16 May 1995. The following companies have been awarded contracts to provide consultancy advice and specialist skills to the procurement project:
  • KERMON Ltd. of Amersham, Bucks
  • AMTEC Consulting, of Farnham, Surrey
  • CSS Trident, of Hemel Hempstead, Herts
  • Charterhouse Bank Ltd.
 The value of these contracts is not fixed, but will be determined by the specific services delivered by each company. Since this is a competitive tendering exercise, I cannot, at this stage, give an estimate of the likely cost of the LOCCS project. There are no current plans to replace the CREST system. However, under the terms of the Private Finance Initiative, bidders are free to offer to provide other services, and it is possible that some might express an interest in the CREST system. If this is the case we will consider whether or not it should be included in the eventual contract.