Departments: Telecommunications

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies spent on telecommunication costs in each year since 1997. (133437)

Information on telecommunication costs (including IT networking costs) for the Chancellor's departments and agencies in each year since 1997 is given in the table:

£
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
HMT	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	1,592,000	1,416,000	1,796,000	1,558,000
DMO	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	85,000	141,000	142,000	121,000
OGC	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	465,000	691,000	734,000	840,000	1,132,000
VOA	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	1,606,000	2,110,000	1,643,000	1,766,000	1,658,000
HMRC	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	22.5 million	28.1 million	30.7 million	30.1 million	²19.2 million
Royal Mint	126,000	151,000	134,000	176,000	149,000	162,000	183,000	³240,000	113,000
NS&I	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—
ONS	¹—	¹—	¹—	¹—	441,000	552,000	808,000	968,000	1093,000
GAD			38,000	36,000	36,000	36,000	38,000	40,000	43,000
¹ Figures could only be provided at disproportionate cost. ² The decrease in charges for HMRC in 2005-06 reflects the transfer of responsibility for maintenance and service of the telephone system to the Department's IT partner and it is not possible to disaggregate this element from their charges. For ONS, the increase in 2005- 06 is due mainly to implementation of a secure dial in service (RAS) for laptop users. ³ The high fixed line charge for the Royal Mint in 2004-05 related to a settlement in respect of 0845 numbers which had not been charged by BT over the previous three years. The reduction in 2005-06 was due in part to the more competitive marketplace and in part to more efficient use of the charging system by the Mint.

Audited information for 2006-07 will be available by July 2007.

Volume 460: debated on Friday 18 May 2007