§ Mr. HoonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many separate computer programs his Department operates. [5515]
§ Mr. HowardThere is no universal definition of what constitutes a computer program. A formula or a simple line of executable code could be said to be a program. Most of my Department's information technology systems are supported by outside suppliers, so this information is known only to them. The major applications which are supported in-house are those of the police national computer, which has some 10,000 programs.
§ Mr. HoonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many lines of computer code there are in his Department's computer systems. [5514]
§ Mr. HowardMost of my Department's information technology systems are supported by outside suppliers, so this information is known only to them. The major applications which are supported in-house are those of the police national computer, which have some 1.5 million lines of code.