§ Brian WhiteTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his policy is towards using open source software; and what percentage is used in his Department. [69319]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister sets out the specific business requirements that software is required to meet. Suppliers are free to propose open source software to meet these requirements.
The Department's use of open source software will follow the Government's policy when published, currently planned for summer 2002. The draft policy may be viewed at http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/rfc/rfc_ documentasp?docnum=429.
At present, less than 1 per cent. of the Office's software is open source.