 |
answer text |
<p>In 2013 the House of Commons Commission agreed to a recommendation in the Administration
Committee’s report, <em>First weeks at Westminster: induction arrangements for new
MPs in 2015,</em> that:</p><p>“…a tablet and a laptop should be the first pieces of
equipment offered to all Members after the 2015 election. The tablet should be in
addition to the current allowance and should come with a SIM card. This provision
of a tablet would replace any tablets available as part of the current select committee
pilot. The laptop would come from the IT equipment allowance for Members provided
by PICT.”</p><p>The gross cost was estimated to be around £200,000 per annum (including
the cost of SIM cards) averaged over the life of the parliament but is linked to a
programme to reduce hard copy printing in favour of online publication that is already
delivering savings in excess of £3 million per year. These savings are expected to
grow further in the new parliament.</p><p>An independent assessment was completed
by Parliamentary ICT (PICT) in January 2015, covering comparative tablet costs, the
costs associated with the re-working of existing services and infrastructure (where
required), and any costs for training Members, Members’ staff and ICT support teams.</p><p>Having
been in use across Parliament since 2012, iPads are integrated with current business
processes (eg committee paper circulation) and infrastructure (eg mobile device management).
A move away from the Apple operating system (iOS) at this time would incur costs to
change these processes.</p><p>Given the established nature of iOS in the Houses’ IT
service offering, access to parliamentary digital services on iPads is mature, offering
greater access than on other mobile devices. Members are able to access the intranet
and intranet hosted services via their iPads, they are able to access and annotate
committee papers and can download a number of Office apps to access any content held
within Office 365. In addition, PICT are able to remotely manage their security in
the case of loss. While all of these services could be provided on other devices and
operating systems, currently this would incur further costs in order to deliver them.</p><p>There
would be a significant change to move existing Members to a different tablet operating
system. There are at present 209 iPads supplied centrally to Members; PICT are experienced
at supporting these. Any departure from iOS would require re-training for the current
Members using iOS and new training to be developed for the remaining 441 Members and
all relevant PICT support staff.</p><p>The assessment of the current marketplace revealed
a wide range of prices, from entry level tablets starting at under £100, through to
high-end tablets at approximately £600. Across this range, specifications and capabilities
vary a great deal. Our requirements are for a secure, SIM-enabled tablet with a good
life expectancy and capable of supporting future upgrades. The Apple iPad Air 2 meets
these requirements and is competitively priced when compared with similar models.</p>
|
|
