Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many IT systems which his Department uses are more than (a) three, (b) five and (c) eight years old; and what steps he is taking to ensure that all his Department's IT systems are updated promptly.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is responsible for the IT systems of CPS, Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Her Majesty’s CPS Inspectorate (HMCPSI).

Of their eight core corporate IT systems, six were launched more than eight years ago – however, the component parts thereof are replaced and upgraded regularly. Both the hardware and the software have been updated and refreshed throughout their lifetime to make them fit for continued use into the future. One of the other systems is approximately 5 years old, and the same applies; the remaining system is new.

Where these systems are supplied by external providers, a requirement for prompt updating is part of the supplier contract. Where they are managed in-house, this is part of the internal service agreement with the relevant team. Our internal Service Management team monitors adherence to these commitments in all cases.

The Government Legal Department (GLD) uses a number IT systems, most of which are regularly updated by applying the suppliers recommended patches and version updates, after appropriate testing.

Specifically:

(a) GLD has one system (Solcase) over three years old. It was last updated in 2014 and the next upgrade is due in May 2018.

(b) GLD has two systems (RKYV and Windows 7) that are over 8 years old. The RKYV document management system, used by only a few individuals, is currently being decommissioned. This system was last updated in 2008. The desktop operating system is Windows 7, which was released in 2009. Configuration of a new Windows 10 build is in progress, and GLD is aiming to roll this out in the next month.

The answers to the specific questions in relation to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) are a) 8; b) 2 and c) 3. This information relates only to IT Business System Applications, which enable work to be processed, and not supporting infrastructure and operating systems.

The calculated age of the SFO’s IT systems is based on the last upgrade or install date. Projects are already underway to replace or decommission a number of the systems that currently fall into the 8, 5 and 3 year old categories.