To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for what reasons the Cabinet Office negotiated an agreement for the early settlement of the lease for IT equipment with Hitachi Data Systems Ltd; and how many months there were before the natural termination of the lease. (191012)

The reason for early settlement of the Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) lease agreement was to allow the maintenance provisions to be separated from the underlying asset and to take advantage of a reduction to lease charges of £34,000. The maintenance provisions have been rescheduled so that they can be reused in other Government projects where HDS assets are involved at no additional cost. The lease was settled 21 months before it naturally expired.