UK MPs will get Apple’s iPad Air 2 tablets worth a whopping £1 million after the general elections.
The House of Commons Commission has reportedly announced that all of the 650 MPs who will win seats in the coming general election will be offered iPad Air 2 tablets. The initiative has been announced as part of an apparent cost saving measure which is expected to cost the public £200,000 every year for the next five years.
Supporting the move, John Thurso, who represents the commission, said that iPads are “linked to a programme to reduce hard copy printing in favour of online publication that is already delivering savings in excess of £3 million per year. These savings are expected to grow further in the new parliament.”
However, not all MPs seem to be happy with the announcement. Chi Onwurah, the Labour Shadow Cabinet Office minister, raised some concerns about the provision.
According to The Daily Express, Onwurah said, “As we saw with Nigel Mills and Candy Crush, MPs will be using the games, and the iTunes and other features on the iPad.”
“Locking some of the most powerful people in the country into a platform that most of my constituents can’t afford seems like a mistake.
“And that’s without mentioning the tax avoidance issue. I’m pushing for a device independent digital platform for Parliament.”
Onwurah also questioned whether the Commission had considered any alternatives to iPads.
Thurso responded saying that an independent assessment completed by the Parliamentary ICT department had found that opting for any other tablet brand would lead to a costly restructuring of existing systems and infrastructure.
“Given the established nature of iOS in the Houses’ IT service offering, access to parliamentary digital services on iPads is mature, offering greater access than on other mobile devices,” he said.
“While all of these services could be provided on other devices and operating systems, currently this would incur further costs in order to deliver them.”
He said that adopting a different tablet brand would require the Parliament’s IT staff to be retrained as they are already familiar with handling the remote security support for iOS devices.
Further Thurso also noted that the iPad Air 2 meets Parliament’s tablet requirements of being secure, SIM-enabled and capable of supporting future upgrades.
“The Apple iPad Air 2 meets these requirements and is competitively priced when compared with similar models,” Thurso said.
At present, around 209 MP’s in the UK parliament have iPads, since the House of Commons started replacing paper with iPads and laptops back in 2012.
