§ 43. Mr. Hendersonasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the export potential of computers for educational purposes.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerAs a result of initiatives taken by my Department, the Department of Education and Science and the Scottish Education Department, the use of microcomputers in education is, we believe, more advanced than in any other country in the world. By the end of this year, every school should have a microcomputer. We are also at the forefront in the use of computers as a means for improving teaching across the curriculum as well as for computing and programming studies.
Many of the companies concerned are now looking to exports. Acorn Computers and Sinclair Research have, for example, already exported successfully to a large number of overseas countries. Many of the other computer manufacturers, software producers and peripheral manufacturers are also in the early stages of export activity. United Kingdom software is particularly well respected.
In addition, the United Kingdom industry has come together to form a loose association under the heading of the Great British Micro Show which has exhibited at educational trade fairs in Singapore and Basle, placing emphasis on the ability of the United Kingdom to provide a total capability in educational information technology, including hardware and software provision, teacher training and support services.
Officials in both my Department and the Department of Education and Science have also entered into discussions with the Governments of a range of overseas countries to consider the scope for intergovernmental agreements on educational IT. A joint working party has been set up, for example with India, and offers promising opportunities for our companies. Manufacturing under licence could form a prominent part of this activity.
It is too early to place a figure on the potential value of the educational IT market as it is dependent upon decisions by foreign Governments, many of whom have yet to decide the extent to which they are willing to finance the introduction of microcomputing into education. This is clearly an expanding and important world market, however, and the United Kingdom is obviously extremely well placed to benefit from it. I am optimistic that the companies concerned will exploit the opportunities available.