Written question asked by John Pugh (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 24 February 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 25 March 2004. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Thursday, 25 March 2004 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to ensure that future ordering of proprietary software by the NHS ensures that the NHS will be able to purchase software from a wide range of suppliers at economic cost.

Answer: Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to ensure that future ordering of proprietary software by the NHS ensures that the NHS will be able to purchase software from a wide range of suppliers at economic cost. [156895] Mr. Hutton: The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and the Office of Government Commerce have put in place a framework contract for information technology products known as GCat. The contract offers a comprehensive range of software to the national health service, at competitive prices, from a number of proprietary software and specialist software resellers.

Secondary information