HC Deb 13 May 1987 vol 116 c255W
Mr. Coombs

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list those companies to which his Department has awarded contracts for the supply of word processing hardware and word processing software in each year since 1984; and what was the value of each contract.

Mr. Peter Walker

In the financial years 1985–86 and 1986–87 my Department purchased microcomputers from the Apricot Computers PLC range in association with software from Microsoft Ltd. for its word processing requirements. For reasons of commercial confidentiality I am unable to disclose the value of individual contracts.

Mr. Coombs

asked the Secretary of State for Energy how much his Department has spent on (a) word processing hardware and (b) word processing software in each year since 1984; and what is the projected expenditure for the financial years 1987–88 and 1988–89.

Mr. Peter Walker

My Department's expenditure on word processing systems is as follows;

£
Financial year 1985–86 Actual 40,000
Financial year 1986–87 Actual 56,000
Financial year 1987–88 Forecast 67,000

In addition, my Department is using general purpose microcomputers for data processing as well as word processing. Plans for financial year 1988–89 have not yet been finalised.

Mr. Coombs

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will list those companies to which his Department has awarded contracts for the supply of desk-top publishing hardware and software in each year since 1984; and what was the value of each contract.

Mr. Peter Walker

My Department has not purchased any desktop publishing hardware or software.

Mr. Coombs

asked the Secretary of State for Energy how much his Department has spent on (a) desktop publishing hardware and (b) desktop publishing software in each year since 1984; and what is the projected expenditure for the financial years 1987–88 and 1988–89.

Mr. Peter Walker

My Department has not purchased any desktop publishing hardware or software, but it will keep the possibility under review.