HL Deb 20 February 2003 vol 644 cc194-5WA
Earl Attlee

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What has been the expenditure on information technology systems for each of the past six years for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, the Defence Scientific and Technical Laboratory and QinetiQ. [HL1191]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)

In the period from financial year 1997–98 to financial year 2000–01, the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) spent the following amounts on corporate information technology systems:

  • FY 1997–98 £45.7 million
  • FY 1998–99 £64.7 million
  • FY 1999–2000 £66.8 million
  • FY 2000–01 £55.6 million

On 1 July 2001, DERA was split into QinetiQ and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). At this point, around 75 per cent of DERA's staff and assets transferred into QinetiQ.

In financial year 2001–02 and financial year 2002–03 QinetiQ and Dstl spent the following amounts on corporate information technology systems:

QinetiQ Dstl
FY 2001–02 £36.9 million £15.4 million
FY 2002–03 £32.3 million £16.4 million (estimates to year end)

The amounts above include capital expenditure and the costs of provision of corporate network services (including telephones), but exclude any IT costs incurred as a direct result of the separation of DERA into QinetiQ and Dstl.

The split of DERA occurred part way through financial year 2001–02. In order to allow for a comparison between financial years, DERA's IT costs for the period 1 April to 30 June 2001 have been apportioned between QinetiQ and Dstl in line with the division of DERA's staff and assets between the two organisations. This apportionment has been used to produce the whole year figures for each organisation for financial year 2001–02 above.