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Written question asked by Lord McAvoy (Labour) on Wednesday, 21 January 2015, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 4 February 2015. It was answered by Lord Sewel (Non-affiliated) on Tuesday, 3 February 2015 on behalf of the Chairman of Committees (HL).

Parliament: Software

Question

To ask the Chairman of Committees how much it cost to procure the latest Microsoft Outlook system for use in Parliament; whether the system is working to specification; and what is being done about any problems encountered so far.

Answer

The latest version of Outlook was included in Parliament’s rollout of Microsoft Office 365 during 2014 as part of the Improved Access to Services (IATS) project. IATS also delivered other new services but the costs of that project identifiable as directly related to Microsoft Outlook were £355,667 in 2013-14 and £158,802 in 2014-15 (including VAT).

In addition, Parliament provides each user with Microsoft Windows and its associated Office 365 software at a cost of £98.75 (not including VAT) per user per year.

The service has been deployed to over 7,000 users on the Parliamentary network and the overall system is working to specification. A number of users have reported some issues. In particular they have raised concerns about the design of the new Outlook interface and some have reported problems with passwords needing to be re-entered. Both of these issues have been raised with Microsoft.

If any Member is experiencing difficulties then Parliamentary ICT (PICT) is ready to offer assistance.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL4317
Session
2014-15
Subjects
Software Expenditure Procurement Parliament Standards
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk