§ Mr. Juddasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement concerning the availability of investment grants for computer peripheral and ancillary equipment.
§ Mr. DellHitherto grant has been payable on peripheral and ancillary equipment provided for use in a computing system only when the person using the equipment is also the owner or lessee of the central processing unit. This stipulation is now removed, and expenditure incurred in future by an eligible person in providing such equipment will, provided the other requirements of the investment grants scheme are satisfied, qualify for grant whether or not the user also owns or leases the central processing unit. In this way we shall, I believe, be providing a valuable additional incentive to the efficient use of computers.