Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of total annual public sector expenditure on Microsoft software licences, cloud services and related support contracts across central government; and what assessment they have made of the impact of competition in software and cloud markets on value for money for taxpayers.

Information on total annual public sector expenditure on Microsoft software licences, cloud services and related support contracts is not held centrally. Responsibility for IT procurement is devolved to individual contracting authorities, which are responsible for determining their operational requirements and managing their own commercial arrangements.

In support of value for money, the Government Commercial Agency manages the Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 with Microsoft. This Memorandum of Understanding is designed to enable the public sector to benefit from government-wide scale in securing preferential pricing, while requiring individual customers to undertake compliant procurement processes and appropriate market testing for specific procurements.

The Government recognises the importance of effective competition in software and cloud markets in supporting value for money for taxpayers. It therefore seeks to maintain competitive tension and to reduce dependency on any single supplier by promoting a diverse technology estate across a range of cloud and software providers. The Cabinet Office also keeps under review relevant market investigations undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority to help ensure that public sector digital procurement remains open and competitive.