§ 17. Mr. ArbuthnotTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been spent by general practitioners on computers over the last five years.
§ Mr. DorrellInformation in the form requested is not available. However, a scheme to encourage the development of GP computing, by reimbursing GPs a 129W proportion of their costs, was introduced from 1 April 1989. An estimated £17 million was reimbursed in the period to 31 March 1991 and a further £19 million is available in 1991–92. In the period from January 1988 to March 1990 the number of computerised practices increased from 9.8 to 47.5 per cent.