Departmental ICT Jenny Willott To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to address the effect on levels of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department of its ICT purchases since the publication of the Greening Government ICT Strategy; and if he will make a statement. Jonathan Shaw The Department does not own its IT equipment, it is provided under contractual arrangements with the Department’s IT suppliers. The Department has made great inroads in reducing its carbon footprint through active management of its IT services, since the end of 2005 when it re-aligned its contracts with BT and EDS. This work is continuing. In the summer of 2008 the Department announced its strategy to re-compete its existing contracts over a five year period. A key element of this future contracting strategy is to contractually commit the IT providers to reduce the carbon footprint of the services they deliver to the Department. Jenny Willott To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average server capacity utilisation by each division of his Department was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. Jonathan Shaw Under the Department’s contractual arrangements with its IT suppliers the Department pays only for the IT services it uses, providing the maximum value for money for the taxpayer. The Department’s IT suppliers provide the required capacity based on quarterly forecasts of the projected use of the Department’s computer systems. In this way the Department’s IT suppliers are encouraged to ensure that the equipment they provide and its capacity is sufficient for the Department’s consumption needs but that any excess capacity is minimised as it remains the responsibility of the IT supplier. The information is not available in the format required and to provide it would be at disproportionate cost. Jenny Willott To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) printers and (b) multi-function devices with printing functions were in use in each division of his Department in each of the last five years; how many such devices had a function enabling two-sided printing; and if he will make a statement. Jonathan Shaw A total of 15,260 printers have been installed within the Department for Work and Pensions in the last five financial years. The breakdown per year is as follows: ----------------------------------------------- | |Number| ----------------------------------------------- |2004-05 |4,260 | ----------------------------------------------- |2005-06 |2,157 | ----------------------------------------------- |2006-07 |1,256 | ----------------------------------------------- |2007-08 |5,975 | ----------------------------------------------- |2008-09 |11,628| ----------------------------------------------- |1 Including 16 multi-function devices.| | ----------------------------------------------- All printers and multi-function devices installed during this period have either automatic or manual two-sided print capability, apart from a total of 5,089 printers which are installed within customer facing Jobpoint Kiosks (typically in customer areas of Jobcentre Plus offices). They were installed as follows: 2007-08—4,752 2008-09—337 Jenny Willott To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of IT products in each category procured for each division of his Department were compliant with the Government’s Buy Sustainable-Quick Win standard in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. Jonathan Shaw The Department does not own its IT equipment, it is provided under contractual arrangements with the Department’s IT suppliers. All the 122,558 personal computers and monitors deployed as part of the Department’s most recent desktop refresh meet the Class Leader Specification Requirements. All 8,903 laptop computers deployed as part of that refresh meet at least the Minimum Specification Requirements. In the summer of 2008 the Department announced its strategy to re-compete its existing contracts over a five year period. As part of this future contracting strategy the Department is mandating compliance with the Quick Wins Criteria for any appropriate equipment deployed as part of a managed service.