Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2025 to Question 97018, what proportion of his Department expenditure on Microsoft Software licenses and services was allocated to (a) new service implementations and (b) renewal or maintenance of existing system; and how this compares to the previous year’s expenditure in each category.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the information requested:
Year | New Service Implementations | Renewal and Maintenance of existing Systems |
4 December 2024 – 5 December 2025 | 15.2% | 84.8% |
4 December 2023 – 5 December 2024 | 0% | 100% |
Source: Department of Health and Social Care
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with small and medium-sized enterprises on the potential impact of restrictive software licensing practices on their businesses.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers regularly meet with businesses of all sizes.
Government is committed to delivering a competitive and prosperous digital economy. That is why we implemented the new digital markets regime on 1 January 2025. The Competition and Markets Authority now has bespoke powers to increase competition in digital markets.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what mechanisms are in place under the Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 with Microsoft to (a) monitor price changes for existing services and (b) assess the potential impact of prior purchasing decisions on the Government's ability to (i) switch providers and (ii) ensure the competitiveness of future contract awards.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 (SPA24) provides discounts and favourable terms to UK public sector customers. Contract prices are locked at the time of each authority's contract, for the duration of that contract. Any global price changes implemented by Microsoft during the life of the contract do not have an impact until an individual contract is renewed.
Under SPA24, Microsoft reports any global price changes to the Crown Commercial Service but again, these do not impact individual authority contracts until they are renewed. SPA24 includes governance in the form of both monthly meetings and confidential communications for Microsoft to share advance notice of price changes.
SPA24 is designed not to restrict the ability of public sector organisations to switch providers or ensure competitiveness because customers accessing Microsoft products through SPA24 are required to carry out a compliant procurement process and make their own assessment of value for money. There is no obligation on any public sector organisation to use Microsoft, or any of its specific offerings.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of spending on Microsoft software licenses and services between (a) 4 December 2024 and 5 December 2025 and (b) 4 December 2023 and 5 December 2024 was allocated to (i) new service implementations and (ii) renewal and maintenance of existing systems.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the proportion of spending on Microsoft software licenses and services between 4 December 2024 and 5 December 2025, and between 4 December 2023 and 5 December 2024 that was allocated to new service implementations and renewal, and to the maintenance of existing systems:
Period | New service implementations | Renewal and maintenance of existing systems |
4 December 2024 to 5 December 2025 | 15.2% | 84.8% |
4 December 2023 to 5 December 2024 | 0% | 100% |
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 8 December 2025 to Question 97022, how much and what proportion of his Department's expenditure on Microsoft Software licenses and services was allocated to (a) new service implementations and (b) renewal or maintenance of existing system; and how this compares to the previous year’s expenditure in each category.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 97021, what proportion of his Department's expenditure on Microsoft Software licenses and services was allocated to a) new service implementations and b) renewal or maintenance of existing system; and how this compares to the previous year’s expenditure in each category.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department does not hold this information in the format requested. We do not routinely capture or report expenditure on Microsoft software licences and services split between new service implementations and renewal or maintenance of existing systems. A year-on-year comparison is therefore not available.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that veterinary clients are able to make informed choices in a market where many practices trade under local-sounding names despite corporate ownership.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The CMA is currently conducting a market investigation into veterinary services for household pets. The final report is expected early next year and will set out the actions the CMA has decided to take.
As the UK’s independent competition authority, the CMA is responsible for decisions relating to its investigations, including on remedies.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of vertical integration within large veterinary groups, including ownership of pharmacies, laboratories, out-of-hours providers, crematoria and referral centres on market competition and consumer choice.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues, including vertical integration, falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as the UK’s independent competition authority.
The CMA is currently conducting a market investigation into veterinary services for household pets.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has (a) renewed and (b) upgraded digital services and software licensing contracts with Microsoft in the last 12 months.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice has not renewed or upgraded digital services and software licensing contracts with Microsoft in the preceding 12 months from 16 December 2025.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much her Department has spent on software licences from Microsoft in the last 12 months; and what proportion this represents of her Department’s total technology spend.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT spend of £3,044,084.14 for DSIT Microsoft Licences in the last 12 months. We have not provided the proportion of the total technology spend as it is not a separate reporting category within Annual Report and Accounts (ARA).