§ Mr. Tim Smithasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to what extent word processors are used in his Department; and whether successive drafts of the forthcoming companies consolidation legislation have been produced on a word processor.
461W
§ Mr. FletcherThe Department of Trade and Industry has 135 word processors installed in its London and regional offices. They are used mainly for the preparation of briefs, reports, draft papers, and other work which may require frequent amendment and retyping where the facilities offered by word processors are of particular benefit.
Several Departments are involved in the preparation of the Companies consolidation legislation and the preparation of the text is not the responsibility of my Department. I understand, however, that prints of three of the four draft bills for the forthcoming companies consolidation legislation were prepared for printing by conventional methods and a word processor is being used for the production of the fourth.