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171194

	registered interest
	date	17/12/2014
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	House of Commons: Bookshops
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer to Question 218201, how many book titles in total are on sale in the House of Commons Book Shop; what proportion of such books are by women; and what proportion of such books which do not have the words woman, women or sexism in their title are by women.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	219283
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>We do not hold information regarding the gender of authors or editors on our stock control systems. Without considerable research it would not be possible to assign a gender to each author as names are not always easily assigned.</p><p>In addition, we stock a significant number of titles for which there is no author or editor named on our system. Such titles include <em>The London Diplomatic List, the Civil Service Yearbook, Vacher’s Quarterly </em>and a number of similar reference titles<em>.</em> The stock changes on a regular basis as many titles are written about current issues and do not stay in the range for long so that titles are added and deleted from the range each month.</p><p>As previously stated, we are committed to the inclusion of women authors within our range, and aim to represent women’s role in British politics wherever possible. This is an essential part of our objective to stock titles that shed light on British politics, Parliament and democracy.</p><p>If the hon. Member would like to discuss the matter further, the Senior Retail Operations Manager would be more than happy to meet her.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 05/01/2015 11:05:50 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

175181

	registered interest
	date	19/01/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	House of Commons: Bookshops
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to ensure that women authors are better represented in the books on sale in the House of Commons Bookshop.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	907160
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2015 answer text <p>The Houses of Parliament Shop (formerly the Parliamentary Bookshop) on Bridge Street stocks a small selection of political books, primarily recently published, best-selling titles. The Commission supports the buying manager’s current policy that, within these parameters, women authors are represented in the range wherever possible.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 22/01/2015 14:51:05 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

227310

	registered interest
	date	13/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what discussions the Commission has had with (a) Apple and (b) providers of other devices and platforms in advance of the decision to offer iPads free of charge to all hon. Members.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	227500
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2015 answer text <p>No direct discussions were held with (a) Apple and (b) the providers of other devices and platforms in advance of the decision to offer iPads.</p><p>An independent assessment of the tablet marketplace was completed by Parliamentary ICT (PICT), including cost, but also technical capabilities, such as the ability to deliver committee papers securely, and the training effort required for both Members and their staff to move to a different device and/or platform.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 18/03/2015 16:19:19 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

227311

	registered interest
	date	13/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what assessment the Commission has made of the suitability of the iPad for the open source, open standards and open data approach to digital services promoted by the Government Digital Service.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	227499
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2015 answer text <p>The suitability of various tablets for open source, open standards and open data was not part of the assessment in the selection of the iPad. The selection of tablet does not have a direct impact on the use of open source, open standards and open data. Parliament is actively using open standards to deliver services that will work across any device through the use of HTML5. In addition new services are being developed that take advantage of Parliament’s open data platform, such as data.parliament.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 18/03/2015 16:18:41 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

227312

	registered interest
	date	13/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what comparative assessment the Commission has made of the costs of offering iPads and equivalent Android devices free of charge to all hon. Members.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	227498
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2015 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> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso grouped question UIN 227725 question first answered 18/03/2015 16:17:37 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

227589

	registered interest
	date	16/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what assessment the Commission has made of the effect of the provision of free iPads to hon. Members on the availability of parliamentary digital services on other devices.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	227722
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2015 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to my answer yesterday to Question 227498.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 19/03/2015 13:10:40 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

227590

	registered interest
	date	16/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what assessment the Commission made of the functionality and price of other devices and platforms before deciding to offer free iPads to all hon. Members.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	227725
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2015 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> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso grouped question UIN 227498 question first answered 18/03/2015 16:17:37 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

228618

	registered interest
	date	19/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2015 to Question 227500, what consideration was given to putting the contract for the supply of tablets for hon. Members out to competitive tender; and what the minimum value is for contracts that must be put out to competitive tender.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	228502
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>The minimum value for contracts that must be put out to competitive tender is £50,000. The contract was awarded under a Crown Commercial Service framework. In order to be part of the framework the suppliers have taken part in a competitive tender process.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 24/03/2015 17:11:23 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

228619

	registered interest
	date	19/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2015 to Question 227498, to which budget the mobile charges for hon. Members' iPads fall; what plans the Commission has to offer hon. Members a platform other than iOS; and what provision PICT is making for hon. Members who do not wish to use iPads.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	228501
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>Following the election, each Member will be offered an iPad to facilitate use of online services provided by Parliament. These iPads, and the associated mobile data costs, will be funded from the Administration Estimate.</p><p>Members will also be able to order IT equipment from an online catalogue, financed from the Members Estimate. The catalogue will include a range of laptops, desktops, tablets, printers and peripherals to equip their offices. Parliamentary ICT (PICT) intends to offer devices in this catalogue that run the following operating systems, subject to security assurance and testing: Windows, iOS, OS X Yosemite and Android.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 24/03/2015 17:11:05 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

228881

	registered interest
	date	20/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	Select Committees: ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, whether the Commission made an assessment of the risks of being locked into one supplier when the decision was taken to trial Apple iPad for select committees.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	228624
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>Apple iPads for Members engaged in Select Committee business were initially piloted by the Administration Committee between April and October 2011. This was followed by an extended pilot with other Select Committees.</p><p>At the time of the first pilot, the tablet market was very limited and there were not considered to be any comparable products to the iPad.</p><p>At the time of the extended pilot the tablet market had grown and an assessment was carried out by Parliamentary ICT (PICT) that considered the suitability of a range of tablet devices against a number of different criteria including security, operating software and price. The assessment concluded that the Apple iPad – and its supporting software – was the most suitable tablet device available to Members for this purpose.</p><p>A further assessment of the market was undertaken when it was decided to offer all Members a tablet following the General Election. That assessment concluded that the Apple iPad was still the most suitable primary device. The Apple iPad remains the most mature tablet on the market and was assessed to be the most effective to support in large numbers. PICT’s experience of supporting iPads and the retraining of users and support staff if another product was used were considerations within the assessment.</p><p>Parliament’s existing strategy is to develop applications in open standards and iPads are not a constraint on that approach. The latest version of the Apple operating system, iOS 8, has proven to be more open and has reduced the risk of becoming locked in.</p><p>In equipping their offices after the election, Members will be able to select IT equipment from an online catalogue. The catalogue will include a range of laptops, desktops, tablets, printers and peripherals. PICT intends to offer tablets running the following operating systems, subject to security assurance and testing: Windows, iOS and Android.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 25/03/2015 16:43:42 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah