§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give (a) the number of major computers installed in Government Departments since 1979, (b) the cost of the computers and (c) the number of staff in those Departments in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983.
§ Mr. HayhoeComparable figures for the number of major computers installed in Government Departments are14W not available for the full period from 1979. The CCTA publication "Supplement to Management Services in Government" listed computers costing more than £10,000: 566 at 31 December 1978, 614 at 31 December 1979 and 668 at 31 December 1980. Its successor, the "List of Computers in Central Government", lists computers costing more than £25,000: 532 at 31 December 1981 and 641 at 31 December 1982. Figures for 1983 will be published in May 1984. Copies of these publications are available in the House of Commons Library.
Details of the cost of major computers installed since 1979, and the Departments affected, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Since 1978 the cost of all computers purchased by CCTA for administrative and scientific use in Government was as follows:
£ million 1978–79 32.2 1979–80 41.7 1980–81 40.3 1981–82 73.0 1982–83 78.6 The total number of civil servants in Government over this period was as follows:
Numbers 1 April 1978 736,000 1 April 1979 733,000 1 April 1980 705,000 1 April 1981 690,000 1 April 1982 666,000 1 April 1973 649,000 It is not possible to draw valid conclusions about the impact of computerisation on manpower savings from such aggregate figures; staff savings may only be one of a number of quantifiable benefits to a Department from computerisation.