Matthew Brackley
Assistant Procurement Category Manager
T01924 205762
F01924 205702
E
Mr John Hyde
Our Reference: 77412 / 07 August 2012
Freedom of Information Request
DearMr Hyde,
Thank you for your email of 20th July 2012, in which you asked for the following information from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):
1)The number of analogue recording devices used to record Courtproceedings
2)The annual expenditure for purchasing and maintaining the fixed Court Recording Equipment within County Courts in England and Wales
3)The total number of hand held recording devices purchased via MoJ Central Contracts (e.g. electrical appliances and stationery, though not including ad hoc local purchases not tracked via central contracts)
4)The company/companies responsible for supplying those devices.
Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
I can confirm that the department holds information that you have asked for, and I am pleased to provide this to you. For the sake of convenience I have answered your questions as numbered above.
1) There are currently 683 analogue recording devices active within the County Courts in England and Wales (Lanier Advocate V recording devices). This does not include hand held recording devices (Dictaphones etc).
2) Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) currently meets its requirements for the purchase, service and maintenance of much of its Court recording equipment through a contract with Voice Products Ltd, and the scope of this contract includes the stand alone analogue and digital equipment located in County Courts for the purposes of recording proceedings.
The total cost of these purchases and this service in the financial year 2011/12 (April 2011 to March 2012) was £489,536.
3) The MoJ does not hold central contracts or a budget for the purchase or maintenance of interview recording or hand held recording devices. Any such requirements are currently met locally by the business unit in question, and they are responsible for meeting these via their local budget allocations.
Where there is a requirement for P.A.C.E (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984) compliant recording devices for use inside prisons (e.g. for the purposes of recording interviews with staff or prisoners) these are sourced and purchased locally.
Whilst ad hoc local purchases cannot be tracked, I am pleased to provide you with information relating to MoJ Central Contracts where they are used:
Contract / Supplier / No. of Audio Recording Devices Purchased in FY 11/12Office Supplies (Stationery) / Banner Business Services / 41
Electrical Goods / Equanet / 6
4) As incorporated in the above.
The provision of Court Recording Equipment is currently under review, and we intend to formally approach the market via competitive tender in late 2012. If you wish to discuss this requirement or express an interest in this contracting opportunity you may contact me directly for more information.
I hope that this information is sufficient.
You can also find more information by reading the full text of the Act (available at and further guidance
You have the right to appeal our decision if you think it is incorrect. Details can be found in the ‘How to Appeal’ section attached at the end of this letter.
Disclosure Log
You can also view information that the Ministry of Justice has disclosed in response to previous Freedom of Information requests. Responses are anonymised and published on our on-line disclosure log which can be found on the MoJ website:
The published information is categorised by subject area and in alphabetical order.
Yours sincerely
Matthew Brackley
Assistant Procurement Category Manager
MoJ Procurement
How to Appeal
Internal Review
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to an internal review. The handling of your request will be looked at by someone who was not responsible for the original case, and they will make a decision as to whether we answered your request correctly.
If you would like to request a review, please write or send an email to the Data Access and Compliance Unit within two months of the data of this letter, at the
following address:
Data Access and Compliance Unit (10.34),
Information & Communications Directorate,
Ministry of Justice,
102 Petty France,
London
SW1H 9AJ
E-mail:
Information Commissioner’s Office
If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Commissioner is an independent regulator who has the power to direct us to respond to your request differently, if he considers that we have handled it incorrectly.
You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following address:
Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Internet address:
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