Office of Government Commerce

Justine Greening
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which of the Office of Government Commerce's (a) internal processes, (b) purchase orders and (c) invoicing processes were automated in each year since 2003-04; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Eagle
In 2003-04, OGC automated the review and authorisation of Government procurement card transactions, the recording of these transactions in the financial ledgers and the automatic production of electronic remittance advices from the finance system. Purchase order processing were automated in 2006-07. Sales invoices were automated prior to 2003-04.

Justine Greening
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of relocating posts from London to Liverpool by the Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions in each year since 2003-04; and if he will make a statement;

(2) how many posts were relocated from London to Liverpool by the Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions in each year since 2003-04; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Eagle
No cost was incurred.

15 posts were relocated from London to Liverpool by OGC buying solutions in 2006-07.

Justine Greening
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the effect on travel costs of the use of video conferencing by the Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions in each year since 2003-04; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Eagle
A figure for the reduction in travel costs through the use of video conferencing in OGCbuying.solutions has not been calculated for the period requested. However, OGCbuying.solutions has recently completed a procurement exercise to upgrade its existing audio/video facilities. As part of the business case for this, a target saving of £30,000 per year on travel costs has been set (from April 2008 when the new facilities will become available).