§ 42. Mr. Richard Pageasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he is satisfied with the effectiveness of the measures to stimulate the development of the software industry.
§ Mr. ButcherYes. My hon. Friend the Minister for Industry and Information Technology recently announced changes to the software products scheme. These will further strengthen a Government support scheme which, in the past, has been very effective in its encouragement of product development in the British software industry.
The main changes are an increase of £10 million in the scheme's budget over a three-year period, a strengthening of the industrial representation on the scheme's advisory committee and a concentration of support towards more innovative areas of product development.