Every MP in the country is to get a brand new iPad after the general election , costing the tax payer £1million . The House of Commons Commission claimed that offering all 650 ministers a new laptop or iPad Air 2 , would actually save money . Liberal Democrat John Thurso , who represents the commission in the chamber , said moving away from Apple 's products would be too expensive . Caught in the act : Tory MP Nigel Mills was caught playing Candy Crush on his taxpayer-funded iPad last December . But Shadow Cabinet Office minister Chi Onwurah criticised the decision to lock MPs into the Apple operating system and told Computerworld UK she would have preferred a 'device agnostic ' policy . 'As we saw with Nigel Mills and Candy Crush , MPs will be using the games , and the iTunes and other features on the iPad , ' she added . 'Locking some of the most powerful people in the country into a platform that most of my constituents ca n'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 . ' Liberal Democrat John Thurso claimed a move away from Apple 's operating system would incur more costs . Apple iPads have been used across Parliament since a pilot scheme was launched in 2012 . Currently 209 MPs have taxpayer-funded tablets with the understanding they use them for working while on the move in Parliament . But last December a Tory MP was caught playing a game on his iPad for more than two hours during a meeting . Nigel Mills escaped punishment after he admitted having a ‘ game or two ’ of Candy Crush and promised not to do it again . Mr Mills , the MP for Amber Valley in Derbyshire , was supposed to be listening to experts give evidence at a meeting of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee . He had initially said he would merely ‘ try ’ not to be diverted by the game again , but yesterday afternoon in a statement he said : ‘ I guarantee it will not happen again . In 2013 , the House of Commons Commission agreed to a recommendation from the administration committee that ' a tablet and a laptop should be the first pieces of equipment offered to all members after the 2015 election ' . The Commission assessed a range of tablets with prices ranging from £100 to £600 and where they decided on the Apple iPad Air 2 . The cost of supplying the new iPads would be £200,000 a year over the life of the next Parliament . Mr Thurso said the decision to buy the new gadgets was to avoid spending more money on training staff to use non-Apple systems and to reduce hard copy printing in favour of online publication which was already saving more than £3 million annually . The House of Commons Commission said that buying the 650 MPs an iPad Air 2 each , worth £499 , will save money . 'Having been in use across Parliament since 2012 , iPads are integrated with current business processes and infrastructure , ' he said . ' A move away from the Apple operating system ( iOS ) at this time would incur costs to change these processes . 'Members are able to access the intranet and intranet hosted services via their iPads , they are able to access and annotate committee papers and can download a number of Office apps to access any content held within Office 365 . 'There would be a significant change to move existing members to a different tablet operating system . Any departure from iOS would require re-training for the current members using iOS and new training to be developed for the remaining 441 members and all relevant PICT support staff . '
Every retailer in the uk is to be buying a brand new iPad worth £ 499 each . The cost to the tax payer for the iPad Air 2s will be more than £ 1 million . But the ministry of Commons will claim the move is to save £1 .