To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department has spent on IT systems in each year since 1997; what the purpose of each system is; what the outturn against planned expenditure of each system was; and what the outturn time for implementation against planned time was. (41322)

Since 1997 the Home Office has spent the amounts in the following table on its IT systems.

The increases over the years reflect an increasing usage of, and reliance on, technology to support all aspects of the Department's business. In addition, step changes reflect increases in scope of the central figures. For example, the creation of the National Probation Service in April 2001 brought probation IT costs within the scope of the Department's IT expenditure for the first time. New major IT contracts in the core Home Office and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate have also affected the profile of expenditure.

Detailed project information on: purpose; outturn against planned expenditure; or outturn time for implementation against planned time, for each IT system cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.