To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much was paid to Microsoft in licensing fees by the Lord Chancellor's Department and its agencies in each of the last three years; and how much the Department for Constitutional Affairs and its agencies has budgeted to pay Microsoft for licensing fees in (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05. [130671]

The DC A has contracts for IT services with EDS, Liberata and Fujitsu, which include the provision of Microsoft licences. The licences are obtained direct by the three suppliers, and recharged as an element in the overall service charge. The Department also purchases a limited number of Microsoft licences outside these contracts. The amounts spent on these in the last three last financial years are as follows:

£
2000–01	124,155
2001–02	66,148
2002–03	71,100

Since these licences are procured by local business units within the Department there are no central monies specifically budgeted for licence fees in the financial years 2003–04 and 2004–05.