§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Solicitor-General what the cost was to her Department of mobile phones supplied to Ministers and officials in each of the years since 1997, broken down by(a) price of apparatus and (b) cost of usage. [123071]
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers does not keep separate figures for the cost of apparatus from that of usage. Costs since 1997 are as follows:
Year ending 31 March 1997 1,724 1998 2,270 1999 2,739 2000 2,454 2001 2,223 2002 3,295 2003 4,405 The Crown Prosecution Service cannot provide a separate breakdown of costs for purchasing contract mobile phones. The cost is included in the overall contract charge. The CPS also uses a few "Pay As You Go" mobile phones. These, together with the associated 960W costs, are paid for individually by CPS Areas. In respect of the cost of usage, information is only available from October 1998 when the CPS established a national contract for telephony services. The overall contract charge for mobile phones is:
£ 1998 (from October) 11.95 1999 5,445.72 2000 28,621.79 2001 77,356.20 2002 138,086.75 2003 (to end June) 76,881.38 The cost to the Serious Fraud Office for providing mobile phones to officials does not include the costs of personal calls. The full cost per year since 1997, is detailed.
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 12002 Network and call charges 11,554 4,205 5,680 5,981 6,437 7,536 Purchases 316 274 970 1,261 1,587 823 Total cost 11,870 4,479 6,650 7,242 8,024 8,359 1 provisional As part of the Protocol between HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Crown Prosecution Service, it was agreed the Crown Prosecution Service would pay for all mobile phones supplied to inspectors. Costs since 2000 are broken down as follows:
a total of 11 mobile phones within HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectoratemonthly rental of £11.14 each (overall annual cost £1,470.48)an approximate cost of calls per annum is £750.00. This works out to an average cost of £5.68 per phone, per month.The Treasury Solicitor's Department has not purchased any apparatus. Since 1997, the annual cost of mobile telephone usage, including equipment rental, for the Department for the years ending 31 March was:
Year ending 31 March Total 1997 4,766 1998 4,809 1999 6,182 2000 8,981 2001 10,122 2002 7,869 2003 12,735