§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost was to her Department of mobile phones supplied to Ministers and officials in each year since 1997. [123144]
§ Ms HewittResponsibility for the provision of mobile telephones for official purposes and for payment of the associated call charges was dev Dived to individual directorates, agencies and NDPBs at the end of March 1993. Since August 1997, the DTI has increasingly made use of the central Mobile Telecommunications contract managed by the Office for Government Commerce. This contract provides a call-off arrangement for DTI users at advantageous prices ensuring that the Department obtains good value for money. Due to the devolved responsibility for mobile telephone management the only information that can be provided at non-disproportionate cost is expenditure with DTI's main suppliers of mobile telephony.
The figures available are:
£ 1998 90,881 1999 263,123 2000 226,695 2001 342,964 2002 342,881 Figures are not available for 1997 due to a change in the Department's Accounting System over that period.