In developing the digital service which supports the implementation of individual electoral registration (IER), the Government has ensured the compatibility of election management system (EMS) software used by local authorities and valuation joint boards with the mechanisms which will manage the transfer and matching of data. This has been achieved by developing an interface which standardises the communication of data between EMS software and the IER digital service. This has been fully and successfully tested.

The Electoral Commission has no direct responsibility for the processing or determination of registration applications and therefore has no requirement to interact with the digital service.

The Electronic Chart Precise Integrated Navigation System software is planned to be installed on the Type 45 Destroyers (T45) as the primary element of the Warship Electronic Chart Display and Information System (WECDIS) navigation capability. This will enhance the Type 45's navigation capability, which currently uses a mix of paper charts and an Electronic Charting System, commonly used on commercial shipping. The new WECDIS system will remove the need for paper charts and includes additional warfighting command and control functionality.

The programme will ensure the system and training arrangements comply with the latest international standards, which were defined after the T45 build contract was awarded.

The rollout of WECDIS on the six T45s is scheduled to take place from early 2016, subject to the ships’ operational programme, and is expected to cost £5.6 million for all six platforms. This covers the cost of development, acceptance, testing and trials, platform rollout and user training.

The operators of ATMs have been aware of this development for some time and have been considering the potential implications and what the appropriate response should be. The Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority have been in discussions with those operators to ensure that the mitigating actions are proportionate to the perceived risk. Either the Bank of England or the Financial Conduct Authority will write to you and a copy of the letter will be placed in the library of the House.

There are no plans to take such steps as consumers have the choice when buying digital media to purchase a tied format or one which can be used on other systems, and there is already increasing interoperability between systems. The market for electronic music and media is a global one and the Government is not able to take unilateral action that would facilitate greater interoperability of systems in the UK.

The Year of Code campaign, which was launched on 4 February 2014, is an independent campaign. Although the Government did not contribute any funding to this campaign, we believe that it will inspire young people to learn to code and develop an interest in computer science, something that will be taught in schools as part of the new computing curriculum from September 2014.

Government engages with internet service providers regularly, through the UK Council on Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) on measures to keep children safe online. As a result of this engagement, the four main internet service providers have committed to giving their customers an easy way to install family-friendly filters that will protect all devices in the home. These allow parents to prevent their children from accessing potentially harmful content.

The categories of content offered as part of their family-friendly filters is a matter for the internet service providers, in some cases following consultation with their customers.

Government asked that a UKCCIS working group, including charities and parents' groups, be established to consider the effectiveness of family friendly filters and inadvertent over-blocking of content which is not harmful, including sites which provide advice and support.

Government has asked that a UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) working group, including charities and parents' groups, be established to consider the effectiveness of family friendly filters and inadvertent over-blocking of content which is not harmful, including sites which provide advice and support.

The Government has asked that a UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) working group, including charities and parents' groups, be established to consider the effectiveness of family friendly filters and inadvertent over-blocking of content which is not harmful, including sites which provide advice and support.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not given any funding to the Year of Code.

Cabinet Office is working to support the Year of the Code including by engaging with various groups and organisations.

The Year of Code campaign launched on 4 February 2014 is an independent campaign and not a Government initiative. The Government was not involved in the appointments of the head of the campaign or any members of staff. The campaign website is:

http://www.yearofcode.org/

The Government is doing a great deal to get teachers ready to teach the new computing curriculum. We have been working with the British Computer Society since last year and have established the Network of Teaching Excellence for computer science teachers. This programme is forging links between schools, universities and employers. The aim is to build a network of around 400 'Master Teachers' over the next two years, who will be available for schools to commission to provide training for their teachers.

In December 2013 we announced funding of £1.1 million for the BCS (the British Computer Society—the Chartered Institute for IT) to develop a computing readiness programme aimed specifically at primary school teachers with no prior experience of computer science. The project will provide online resources, in-school workshops, outreach activities and create local support groups within the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science—reaching at least 20,000 teachers.

We have also announced a £500,000 matched fund to support projects that will improve the teaching of the new computing curriculum. The Government will match funding from industry and business, allowing new and existing teachers to be trained by the experts.

The Year of Code campaign launched on 4 February 2014 is an independent campaign and not a Government initiative. The Government was not involved in the appointments of the head of the campaign or any members of staff. The campaign website is:

http://www.yearofcode.org/

The Government is doing a great deal to get teachers ready to teach the new computing curriculum. We have been working with the British Computer Society since last year and have established the Network of Teaching Excellence for computer science teachers. This programme is forging links between schools, universities and employers. The aim is to build a network of around 400 'Master Teachers' over the next two years, who will be available for schools to commission to provide training for their teachers.

In December 2013 we announced funding of £1.1 million for the BCS (the British Computer Society—the Chartered Institute for IT) to develop a computing readiness programme aimed specifically at primary school teachers with no prior experience of computer science. The project will provide online resources, in-school workshops, outreach activities and create local support groups within the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science—reaching at least 20,000 teachers.

We have also announced a £500,000 matched fund to support projects that will improve the teaching of the new computing curriculum. The Government will match funding from industry and business, allowing new and existing teachers to be trained by the experts.

The Year of Code campaign launched on 4 February 2014 is an independent campaign and not a Government initiative. The Government was not involved in the appointments of the head of the campaign or any members of staff. The campaign website is:

http://www.yearofcode.org/

The Government is doing a great deal to get teachers ready to teach the new computing curriculum. We have been working with the British Computer Society since last year and have established the Network of Teaching Excellence for computer science teachers. This programme is forging links between schools, universities and employers. The aim is to build a network of around 400 'Master Teachers' over the next two years, who will be available for schools to commission to provide training for their teachers.

In December 2013 we announced funding of £1.1 million for the BCS (the British Computer Society—the Chartered Institute for IT) to develop a computing readiness programme aimed specifically at primary school teachers with no prior experience of computer science. The project will provide online resources, in-school workshops, outreach activities and create local support groups within the Network of Teaching Excellence in Computer Science—reaching at least 20,000 teachers.

We have also announced a £500,000 matched fund to support projects that will improve the teaching of the new computing curriculum. The Government will match funding from industry and business, allowing new and existing teachers to be trained by the experts.

There is no single software specification for the F-35 Programme. The Joint Strike Fighter contract specification allows the aircraft designers to identify appropriate standards and then justify and agree their selection with the US Government. To date, there have been no specific problems with the aircraft design in terms of software specification.

An independent programme review from the US Department of Defense's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation occurs annually. The issues identified in the last report (2012) were well known and are being actively resolved by the Joint Strike Fighter programme. The 2013 report has yet to be formally issued by the US.

Overall the F-35 programme continues to make steady progress. The UK programme remains on track to deliver Initial Operating Capability in December 2018.

The Highways Agency is currently undertaking a project to upgrade from Windows XP and Office 2003 to Windows 7 and Office 2010, to be completed before 8 April 2014. The total cost for this upgrade project for Office 2010 and Windows 7 is £2.010 million. The project is delivering both software upgrades to desktops etc. in a single activity. We do not have a separate breakdown of the cost of upgrading the Office software only.

[holding answer 17 January 2014]: In my answer of 16 January 2014, Official Report, column 609W, I noted how the Department is in the process of upgrading its desktop IT systems for productivity and security reasons, including the fact that the systems are seven years old, and that Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003 will shortly no longer be supported.

My Department has placed purchase orders relating to software licences costing £211,549 in 2012-13 and for £89,454 in the period April 2013 to December 2013. This excludes software purchased by our outsourced IT service provider.

Doing nothing is not an option, given the lack of security patches would expose Government systems to potential cyber-attacks, and due to issues with old legacy software not working on new systems.

However, the new arrangements are also an opportunity to deliver savings. The new Desktop IT Services contract will cut yearly costs by 40% compared to current contracts, delivering a significant saving for taxpayers. My previous answer also outlined the steps we are taking to use open source software.

To place such figures in context, the right hon. Member may wish to peruse the answer of 6 February 2007, Official Report, column 780W, which outlines spending under the last Administration. The Department/its predecessor spent £3.2 million on non-corporate software licences in 2003-04, £2.6 million in 2004-05 and £1.8 million in 2005-06, plus an additional £2.1 million on corporate software licences and maintenance over that period.

The last Administration failed to get value for taxpayers' money due to poor management of IT contracts. Indeed, the Department published a contract tender in December 2009 for a desktop IT programme costing up to £160 million. This was subsequently cancelled under this Government as part of our wider reduction in departmental spending and reconfiguration of IT procurement policy.

[holding answer 5 November 2013]: In August 2013, the Department's outsourced IT service provider (Steria as part of its hand-over to our new provider Fujitsu) recorded that the Department had 57,739 software licences in use across 2,500 desktops. These licences included core desktops which had 27 different elements to the system including, for example, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, virus protection, SAP Enterprise Resource Planning software application, Personal Information Management System and remote access licences.

Our procurement records show that DCLG has purchased a total of 9,498 software licences for the period May 2010 to October 2013. This does not include software purchased by the Department's outsourced IT services providers.

The overwhelming bulk of these purchases have been made in the last year, as part of the Department's upgrading of its desktop IT systems; these systems were initially purchased in 2007 and are now are in need of upgrading, for productivity and security reasons. This includes migrating from Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2013, which Microsoft are shortly ceasing to support (ie no longer publishing security patches). We are also seeking to rationalise the number of products in use, from the legacy systems inherited from the Department's predecessors, including the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions.

As my Department recommended in our document, “50 ways to save”, we are reducing our software costs through the use of Open Source software. There are a

number of excellent examples in DCLG of this approach including our new intranet and the public facing 'opendatacommunities' web solution that relies on a very wide range of .open source software. The end point operating system on 50% of our new estate is now Linux based.

The new Desktop IT Services contract will cut yearly costs by 40%, compared to current contracts, delivering a significant saving for taxpayers.

[holding answer 13 January 2014]: CESG, the UK's National Technical Authority for Information Assurance at GCHQ, has issued guidance to Government Departments and agencies on the secure use of mobile devices.