§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what arrangements have been made to ensure that the new national advisory body on co-ordination of publicly funded information technology research meets the needs of disabled people in this area.
§ Mr. ButcherThe new advisory arrangements have been established to provide co-ordinated advice to the Department and the Science and Engineering Research Council about their support for IT research. Virtually all this is now pre-competitive research into IT enabling technologies and is not concerned with specific applications. Nevertheless, this should strengthen the United Kingdom's capability in this field and, in due course, enable United Kingdom suppliers to meet better the needs of users of IT, including those with special needs such as disabled people.