§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he has seen a copy of the report prepared by the consultants Pactel for the National Enterprise Board on information technology; what comments he has received; and if he is now satisfied, in the light of the report, that the United Kingdom is spending enough in this area; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerI have received a copy of the report from the National Enterprise Board; no comments on it have been made to me by other bodies. There has been a major shift of the Department of Industry's resources in the direction of high technology industries and, as the report recognises, the Government are making very substantial funding available in the information technology area. I would also draw attention to the initiatives taken by the Government which have been set out in the response on 2 November to the ACARD report on information technology.