§ Dr. Brayasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much of his departmental expenditure on information technology research and development projects was applied for, approved, and spent, respectively, in 1983–84, and so far in 1984–85; and what effect he expects the moratorium on new applications announced on 12 November 1984 to have on expenditure in the rest. of 1984–85, and in 1985–86.
§ Mr. PattieDepartment of Trade and Industry expenditure on projects in those areas directly concerned with information technology research and development (including computing, telecommunications, consumer electronics, cable systems, capital electronics, office systems, microelectronics, fibre optics, the Alvey programme, and the use of IT in manufacturing) is as follows:
1983–84 1984–85 (to date) £ million £ million Applied for 449.930 101.359 Approved 214.342 149.622 Spent 100.735 57.273 NB. these figures are subject to time lags between application, approval and expenditure. They exclude space R&D and such IT initiatives as micros in schools, ITECs.
The moratorium on new applications announced on 12 November will have no effect on expenditure in the rest of 1984–85, which is already fully committed to approved projects. As announced earlier, most of the 1985–86 allocation has already been committed. The extent to which there will be further expenditure in 1985–86 on applications received after the moratorium ends will depend on the outcome of the review now being undertaken.