§ Richard Younger-RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the total expenditure of his Department on IT systems and support in each year from 167W May 1997 to date; how many IT contracts have been let in each of those years; of the other main contracting party in each of those contracts, how many have been (a) companies whose registered office is in (i) England and Wales, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Northern Ireland and (b) foreign companies; and what are the names of the companies falling within category (a). [33684]
§ Dr. MoonieTotal expenditure by the Ministry of Defence on IT systems and support, including hardware and software, furniture, ancillary equipment and licence fees has been as follows:
£ million 1997–98 506.688 1998–99 554.750 1999–2000 509.406 2000–01 478.663 2001–02 1379.966 1 Covering period April 2001 to January 2002 The additional information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. I am therefore unable to provide a substantive answer on that element in accordance with Exemption 9 (voluminous and vexatious requests) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.