§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 22 November 2001,Official Report, column 43W, on call centre services, what the expected cost is of the Employer Direct modernisation programme in years (a) six, (b) seven and (c) eight of the eight year contract. [30128]
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownEmployer Direct is part of the overall investment in modernisation and service improvement by the employment service. The different elements are all interdependent and it is not therefore possible to separate the cost of Employer Direct. The modernisation programme is being delivered under an eight-year contract costing £816 million in total and 535W £346 million over years six, seven and eight of the contract. These costs include the existing services already provided to the employment service by the contractor.