Written question asked by Brian White (Labour) on Friday, 29 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 4 November 2004. It was answered by Hilary Benn (Labour) on Thursday, 4 November 2004 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Dept for International Development

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what percentage of the Department's (a) implemented and (b) planned computer systems use open source software; and what plans are in place to raise this level. - Inc figures.

Answer: Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what percentage of the Department's (a) implemented and (b) planned computer systems use open source software; and what plans are in place to raise this level. [195653] Hilary Benn: Less than 5 per cent. of DFID's current computer systems use Open Source Software (OSS) components. It is expected that by 2007, up to 70 per cent. of DFID's computer systems will include some OSS components, using the definition adopted by the Open Source Initiative. DFID's policies for software procurement follow the Office of Government Commerce's "level playing field" policy in relation to OSS. This does not require the raising of levels of OSS usage in Government, rather that Government considers OSS solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurements and that contracts should be awarded on a value for money, case by case basis. The policy can be viewed at www.govtalk.gov.uk

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 195653; 426 c404W
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Software Department for International Development ICT Government departments Procurement
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk