Written question asked by Lord Moonie (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Brabazon of Tara (Non-affiliated) on Wednesday, 9 February 2011.

House of Lords: IT

Question: To ask the Chairman of Committees what is the cost of implementing the upgrade of Members of the House of Lords’ computers to Windows 7; what were the forecast advantages of doing so; and what testing was done in advance of the upgrade on the requirements for any additional features of the upgraded package.

Answer: The upgrade project is currently in progress so forecast rather than actual costs are provided. The capital cost of new equipment (personal computers and laptops) is forecast to be £288,000 (including VAT). Where equipment can be upgraded it will be at a forecast cost of £25,000 (including VAT). The revenue cost of rolling out the new and upgraded equipment is forecast to be approximately £80,000 (including VAT). The new and upgraded equipment will move Members from software and hardware that is no longer supported or will be unsupported in the near future. Many of the services are obsolete and need to be replaced—for example, the current dial-up and virtual private network (VPN) remote access services. The new software offers greater reliability and also additional features such as Office Communicator Suite (OCS). The upgrade will mean that Members in both Houses will be using the same software and range of hardware and this will allow improved support to be offered through the greater focus and depth of expertise that will be possible. The Windows 7 solution was developed in January 2010. It was checked and tested during the spring and early summer. The complete package, Windows 7, Office 2007 and related software, has been deployed in the second half of 2010 to more than 3,000 devices.

Secondary information