HC Deb 05 March 1980 vol 980 cc225-6W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what steps he is taking to encourage the use of word processors in the public service.

Mr. Channon

There are 280 word processors in use in Government Departments. Guidance to Departments on their cost-effective use is being developed with the aid of a series of trials of new equipment. Trials are now evaluating the benefits of stand-alone word processors. These trials supplement a pilot project carried out in 1978 at the Darlington office of the Department of Education and Science using a computer-based word processor system. I have arranged for copies of a report on the pilot project to be placed in the Library.