§ Mr. Maplesasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the uptake to date of his Department's Micros in Schools scheme for secondary and primary schools.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerThe Department of Trade and Industry has run three separate schemes under which both state and independent schools can apply for a 50 per cent grant towards the purchase of computer equipment.
Under the micros for secondary schools scheme, which ran from June 1981 to December 1982, 6,511 secondary schools received a computer and related equipment, representing well over 95 per cent. of all schools eligible for support.
The micros for primary schools scheme, which offered a similar range of equipment, began in October 1982 and over 23,000 primary schools have applied so far. We are 653W confident that the great majority of the remaining 4,000 primary schools will apply before the scheme finishes at the end of this year.
The micros for secondary schools extension scheme, under which schools were offered 50 per cent. support towards the upgrade of their original computer plus additional equipment, finished at the end of last month. Final figures are not yet available, but over 4,000 schools are already known to have applied.
The schemes represent a considerable achievement. It is estimated that there is now an average of seven computers in each secondary school and computers are also beginning to be used extensively in many primary schools.