Multinational Corporation stops Government answering Parliamentary Question?

I swear to all of you that today is not "anti-Microsoft" day for me honestly. I'm a techie geek so anything about Government and IT is of interest to me.

Now that I have my excuse in, the Tory MP for Braintree, Brooks Newmark, asked the Department of Education how much schools in England had spent on Microsoft products in each of the last three financial years. Jim Knight responded withthe follwoing,

"Information on how much schools in England spent on Microsoft products in each of the last three financial years is not available. It is not collected from schools.

Confidential information has been made available to Becta by Microsoft in respect of Microsoft's licensing sales to schools. This information is the subject of legally binding non-disclosure arrangements and excludes estimates in relation to Original Equipment Manufacturer licences."

In other words, we do know how much of your money we have spent with Microsoft, but Microsoft won't let us tell you. WTF?