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Correspondence
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he intends to reply to the letter dated 13 March from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [56677]
Mr. Bradshaw: I replied on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 9 May. As I said in my letter, I apologise for the delay in responding, which is due to the very heavy volume of correspondence this subject generates.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Fraud
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Solicitor-General what the estimated level of losses to fraud and corruption was in (a) her Department's Vote 1 budget and (b) her Department's Vote 2 budget for (i) 1999–2000 and (ii) 2000–01. [54699]
The Solicitor-General [holding answer 8 May 2002]: The Crown Prosecution Service is funded by a single vote. There were no losses to fraud and corruption in 1999–2000. Losses in 2000–01 totalled £1,088.75.
No other losses were recorded from the budgets of the Law Officers' departments.
Ministerial Training
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General how much has been spent by her Department on training in leadership skills for Ministers and officials in each of the last five years. [52714]
The Solicitor-General [holding answer 26 April 2002]: Nothing has been spent by my Department on training in leadership skills for Ministers.
In relation to those departments for which the Attorney-General is responsible, the Treasury Solicitor's Department and Serious Fraud Office only have figures for the last three years. The figures are as follows:
| Year | |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 3,240 |
| 2000 | 1,175 |
| 2001 | 2,150 |
| Year | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 2,775 |
| 2000–01 | 24,975 |
| 2001–02 | 7,100 |
Crown Prosecution Service
20 May 2002 : Column 67W
Leadership training undertaken by the senior management team in the Crown Prosecution Service has been carried out in two areas. Training in a one-to-one coaching programme began in March 2000 and finished in September 2000, the cost of this initiative was £30,000. A Chief Crown Prosecutors Management and Leadership programme began in September 2001 and finished in February 2002, the cost of this programme was £211,000.
While officials at HMCPS Inspectorate have received leadership training, this has not resulted in any cost to the Department.
IT Contracts
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Solicitor-General what has been the total expenditure of his Department on IT systems and support in each year from May 1997 to date; how many IT contracts have been let in each of those years; of the other main contracting party in each of those contracts, how many have been (a) companies whose registered office is in (i) England and Wales, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Northern Ireland and (b) foreign companies; and what are the names of the companies falling within category (a). [33692]
The Solicitor-General [holding answer 7 February 2002]: The total expenditure of the CPS on IT systems and support from May 1997 to date was:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 4.28 |
| 1998–99 | 9.83 |
| 1999–2000 | 7.36 |
| 2000–01 | 21.74 |
| 2001–02 | 21.82 |
Records show that a total of 40 contracts were let during this period, as follows:
| Number of contracts | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 9 |
| 1998–99 | 10 |
| 1999–2000 | 9 |
| 2000–01 | 6 |
| 2001–02 | 6 |
The 34 businesses that are the main contracting parties in each of the contracts, all have their registered offices in England and Wales. None of the main contracting parties have their registered office in Scotland, Northern Ireland or foreign countries.
The names of the companies that are within category (a) are:
- ACG Computer Consultants
Action Computers Ltd.
Admiral Computing Ltd.
Anite Group Ltd.
20 May 2002 : Column 68W
Cable and Wireless
CMG UK Ltd.
Computacenter plc
Computer People Ltd.
Cornwell Affiliates plc
CSI
DBI Consulting Ltd.
DCS Computers Ltd.
Elan Computing Ltd.
Equanet Ltd.
Ericsson Mobile Communications (UK) Ltd.
Ernst and Young Ltd.
Global Crossing Communications Ltd.
Hedra Ltd.
Integris Ltd.
Kermon Ltd. (Xansa)
Kudos Partnership
Logica UK Ltd.
Lorien plc
Macline Ltd.
Network Designers Ltd.
Oakley Computer Ltd.
P and P Corporate Systems
Parity Resources Ltd.
Pentos Systems plc
Sema Group Ltd.
Simdell Ltd.
Vantagepoint Hardware Services Ltd.
Yale Data Management Consultants Ltd.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 807,000 |
| 1998–99 | 988,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,090,000 |
| 2000–01 | 1,920,000 |
| 2001–02 | 1,930,000 |
The number of IT contracts let in each of those years was:
| IT contracts let | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | — |
| 1998 | 1 |
| 1999 | — |
| 2000 | — |
| 2001 | 1 |
| 2002 | — |
These contracts were signed with companies registered in England and Wales. One of them was negotiated with IBM (UK) plc, the other was with Cedar Group plc.
Although the Serious Fraud Office negotiated other contracts for IT services, these were small and the costs of researching the details of the companies involved would be disproportionate.Since May 1997 the Treasury Solicitor's Department's expenditure on IT systems including telecoms has been as follows.
20 May 2002 : Column 69W
| IT Systems | Telecoms | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 475,531 | 124,740 | 600,271 |
| 1998–99 | 647,711 | 147,707 | 795,418 |
| 1999–2000 | 523,361 | 140,600 | 663,961 |
| 2000–01 | 1,052,515 | 160,380 | 1,212,895 |
| 2001–02 | 924,267 | 130,829 | (16)1,055,096 |
(16) Year to date.
In addition the Department incurred the following paybill expenditure on staff to support and develop IT systems.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 248,468 |
| 1998–99 | 326,400 |
| 1999–2000 | 449,200 |
| 2000–01 | 558,852 |
| 2001–02 | (17)497,681 |
(17) Year to date.
The Department has used framework contracts under the aegis of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC): GCat for the supply of IT goods; and S-CAT for the supply of IT services. The Department routinely sources hardware, software and IT services under these contracts and such purchases do not constitute separate contracts in their own right.
Purchases of equipment, software and services have been made from a variety of suppliers under both framework contracts, the main ones being:
- Compaq Computer Ltd.
Dell Computer Corporation Ltd.
Specialist Computer Centres Ltd.
Computacenter (UK) Ltd.
PC World Business Direct
Cedar Group plc
Cathedral Consortium (HEDRA) Ltd.
Elan Computing Ltd.
Insight Consulting
Methods Application Ltd.
Parity Solutions Ltd.
Yale Data Management Consultants Ltd.
- 1998—Sirsi Ltd.
1999—Grant Thornton Ltd.
2002—TSL Ltd.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 92,625 |
| 1998–99 | 35,992 |
| 1999–2000 | 30,492 |
| 2000–01 | 37,576 |
| 2001–02 | 40,387 |
The number of IT contracts let in each of those years was:
20 May 2002 : Column 70W
| Number of contracts | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | — |
| 1998 | 1 |
| 1999 | — |
| 2000 | 1 |
| 2001 | — |
| 2001 | — |
These contracts were signed with companies registered in England and Wales. One of them was negotiated with 4Front Networks and the other with Selection Services.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Disclosure of Interests
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what rules apply to the disclosure of interests on the part of those serving on public bodies which are responsible to the Lord Chancellor's Department. [56454]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Executive and advisory non- departmental public bodies are required to adopt a board members' code, based on guidance produced by the Cabinet Office, and they should have registers of interests. The definition of interests is ultimately for individual Departments since they are best placed to decide what might be thought to influence members of each of their NDPBs.
Information on the executive NDPBs sponsored by this Department is as follows:
- The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, which was set up last year, has a Code of Best Practice and a register of interests.
The Information Commissioner makes a statement as set out in FRS 8 in her annual accounts confirming that she had no personal or business interests which conflict with her responsibilities. The Commissioner's accounts are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The Legal Services Commission has a Code of Best Practice for LSC members with rules of conduct to report conflicts of interest. The commission also maintains a register of members' financial, business and other interests which is available for public inspection through the commission's secretariat department and is published in its annual report.
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