Scottish Parliament to spend £1.5m on stopgap systems

The UK government is to spend £1.5m on a high-tech revamp of the temporary home of the Scottish Parliament.

Conversion of the Parliament's temporary site, Lothian Region Council Chambers in Edinburgh, was originally estimated at around £7.5m, but only now are details emerging of the exact proportion spent on IT. The government has also revealed that IBM has been chosen as the system integrator.

A report by The Consultative Steering Group - the body overseeing the Parliament's creation - said it will swap the arcane voting system of Westminster for an electronic system.

Speaking in the House of Lords, junior Scottish Office minister, Lord Sewel said around £500,000 will be invested in telecommunications, while office equipment will cost a further £250,000. Money will also be spent on the initial design and implementation of systems such as electronic voting, as well as on hardware such as PCs, laptops and printers.

A Scottish Office spokesman said: "People are taking the opportunity to learn from other Parliaments. For example, the electronic voting system is already in use in other European countries. The Consultative Steering Group looked at a variety of different Parliaments around the world and just took the best bits."

The spokesman said the money will also pay for the construction of databases and the Parliament's official report, an equivalent of Westminster's Hansard where daily governmental debates are recorded.

The cost of the modern voting system has not yet been finalised, but Lord Sewel claimed: "Some further expenditure will be required," over the estimate of £1.5m. He said the final budget decision will be the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.

IBM was unavailable for comment.