§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many contracts his Department, agencies and associated bodies have had with EDS for each year since 1985; what was the value of each contract; if he will indicate for each contract(a) if it was completed, (b) what modifications were made at the request of (i) the company and (ii) the Department and (c) if work under contract is being undertaken in-house; and if he will make a statement on the number of job reductions in his Department arising from the contracting out of work by EDS. [3799]
§ Mr. JackSince 1985, the Chancellor of the Exchequer's departments have had one contract with EDS—the Inland Revenue's 10–year contract for the provision of IT services, which started on 1 July 1994 and which was valued at £1.03 billion.
The contract has been modified a number of times to make minor procedural changes by mutual agreement to benefit both parties. Significant changes have been made in only three main areas: the completion of the master service level agreement, to define the quality and quantity of service, as required by the terms of the contract; an extension to the contract to include staff who provided support to the Inland Revenues's statistics and economics office; extension of the licensing for Oracle software and to provide for 24-hour remote support;
It is not always possible to attribute each change to either the Inland Revenue or EDS, although the change for the transfer of additional staff was at the Inland Revenue's request.
No work under contract with EDS is undertaken in-house, although the Inland Revenue has a small team of IT technical specialists to validate EDS proposals.
Inland Revenue staff reductions arising from the EDS contract were 2,074. They were transferred to EDS in two tranches on 1 July 1994 and 1 January 1996.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the names of those hon. Members who have made representations to him in support of(a) Oracle and (b) EDS Ltd. involvement in the computerised environment for self-assessment. [1633]
499W
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 11 November 1996]My right hon. and learned Friend has received no such representations.