§ Ms ChurchTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 7 November,Official Report, columns 655–56, what were the proposed annual savings for the 14 IT projects in the bands above and including £1 million to £2 million, undertaken since 1992; and what have been the realised annual savings. [6701]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonOf the 14 projects, eight have been commissioned and are in active use; six are still under development.
Six of the projects were necessary to fulfil statutory responsibilities under the common agricultural policy. The responsibilities were new ones, and consequently no savings were forecast or made.
338WOne project was implemented to enable the Department to discharge its responsibility to provide resource accounts; in addition, savings are expected.
Three of the projects were necessary to replace systems over 10 years old running on the Department's obsolete mainframe computer. Savings will be made when the mainframe computer is decommissioned in 1997.
Two of the projects provided infrastructure for office automation across the Department, making an important contribution to overall running cost reductions.
Of the two remaining projects, one will improve services and increase efficiency, and the other is supporting the operations of the Scottish Prison Service.
Total estimated annual savings of up to £2.4 million are expected when all the projects are complete and fully operational.