§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many computers were replaced in her Department in each of the past three years; how the replaced units were disposed of and by which companies; and at what cost. [60756]
§ Mr. MorleyDEFRA, created on 8 June 2001, has recently completed the roll out to all staff of a replacement office system started for the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1999. During this roll out, the following numbers of desktop computers were replaced for staff in the core Department.
June MAFF DEFRA 1999–2000 119 — 2000–01 1,650 — 2001–02 — 2,878 Where appropriate, existing computers have been re-used elsewhere in the Department, including to enable flexible working arrangements for staff, but surplus redundant equipment has been disposed of as follows:
In 1999–2000, the Ministry had a considerable backlog of 1,265 computers for disposal and arranged for ICL (now Fujitsu) to carry out a one-off exercise to clear this before the roll out of the new office system, at a cost of £46,000 plus VAT.
In 2000–01, 1,172 and in 2001–02 3,361 computers were disposed of by Northern Realisations Limited, Bolton, Lancashire at no cost to the Department, but a gain to the Exchequer of £35,000. The contractual arrangement provides for units to be sold on at auction, passed to schools or charities or scrapped according to the terms of all the relevant legislation and regulations.