§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Industry how much the Government are spending in the current financial year on information technology; and how this compares with the amount being spent by other members of the EEC, the United States of America and Japan.
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§ Mr. Kenneth BakerThe Department of Industry has allocated funds for the information technologies in various ways. The schemes available are demand-related and outturn expenditures are therefore somewhat unpredictable, but it is expected that in a full year of operation these allocations represent an annual expenditure of over £60 million. Additionally, the Department's space research programme of £45 million per annum and British Telecom's research programme currently running at £100 million per annum will contribute to the development of a United Kingdom capability in information technology.
Comparisons with the funding allocations of other industrialised countries' Governments to information technology are difficult to make. Therefore, any such comparisons would inevitably be partial and would not represent a fair, accurate and complete comparison with the United Kingdom Government's financial commitment to the support of information technology.