Written question asked by John Pugh (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 15 March 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 21 March 2012. It was answered by Lord Maude of Horsham (Conservative) on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Open Source Software

Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment he has made of Government policy on open source software and open standards; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: We have always made clear that, where appropriate, Government will procure open source solutions.Open source products are used in the delivery, of huge database programmes—such as the Indian Identity card scheme—at a greater scale and for much less cost than we have experienced in the past.Gov.uk, the new platform for publishing in UK Government employs the same open source technologies.It's being delivered for a fraction of the cost of previous Government web schemes.

Secondary information