HC Deb 15 February 1996 vol 271 cc674-5W
Mr. Miller

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list all cases where spare computer capacity has been sold to other Departments since 1987, giving the Department and value of each contract. [14073]

Mr. Boswell

The management of MAFF' s IT is in many cases the responsibility of local units. Consequently, not all records of any such transactions would be held centrally. There is insufficient time to gather the information requested from anywhere other than central records.

MAFF did charge for computer capacity in respect of the processing of grants and subsidies payments for the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland. The computer processing component of the total charge was approximately £50,000 per annum, and the contract came to an end in July 1994.