All 650 MPs will be offered a laptop and an iPad Air 2 after the general election, the House of Commons Commission has announced.
Apple’s iPads have been used across Parliament since 2012 and at present 209 MPs have one.
Liberal Democrat John Thurso, who represents the commission in the chamber, said a move away from Apple’s operating system would require changes to current business processes and incur costs.
The gross cost of supplying the equipment is estimated to be around £200,000 a year, including SIM cards, averaged over the life of the Parliament.
But it is linked to a programme to reduce hard copy printing in favour of online publication which is already saving more than £3 million annually, Mr Thurso said.
The savings are expected to grow further in the new Parliament, he added.
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”.
It suggested the tablet be in addition to the current allowance, come with a SIM card and replace any tablets available as part of the select committee pilot.
The laptop would come from the IT equipment allowance for members provided by the parliamentary ICT team (PICT).
In January of this year, an independent assessment was carried out by PICT into comparative tablet costs, the costs associated with the re-working of existing services and infrastructure and any training costs.
Replying to a written parliamentary question, Mr Thurso said: “Having been in use across Parliament since 2012, iPads are integrated with current business processes and infrastructure.
“A move away from the Apple operating system (iOS) at this time would incur costs to change these processes.
“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.
“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.
“In addition, PICT are able to remotely manage their security in the case of loss. 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.
“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.”
Mr Thurso said the assessment had revealed a wide range of prices, from £100 to £600.
He went on: “Our requirements are for a secure, SIM-enabled tablet with a good life expectancy and capable of supporting future upgrades.
“The Apple iPad Air 2 meets these requirements and is competitively priced when compared with similar models.”
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Chi Onwurah, who uncovered the information, criticised the decision to lock MPs into the Apple operating system.
She told IT management website Computerworld UK she would have preferred a “device agnostic” policy for MPs.
The Labour frontbencher added: “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.”