asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many disabled people both registered and unregistered, have been trained in computer programming under TOPS or similar schemes during each of the last three years: and how many have subsequently found employment in the computer industry.

[pursuant to his reply, 29 October 1980, c. 225]: I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the total number of people completing computer programming training under TOPS for the financial years in question is:

1977–78	1978–79	1979–80
900	1170	1900

but that information about the proportion of disabled people and about the subsequent employment experience of the trainees supported is not readily available. However, the following information is available in respect of training for blind or partially sighted people supported at the Royal National Institute for the Blind's commercial college in London:

	1977	1978	1979
Numbers trained	3	9	13
Numbers in employment	3	8	12

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what provision are the Government making to train disabled people for work in the computer industry.

[pursuant to his reply, 29 October 1980, c. 225]: I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that a wide variety of courses are supported under the training opportunities scheme in colleges of further education and private colleges for which disabled people wishing to train in this field are eligible. For those disabled people who need residential training, TOPS sponsors trainees on the computer programming course at Queen Elizabeth's training college, Leatherhead, which is run in conjunction with International Computers Limited.The MSC also supports the training of blind or partially-sighted people in computer programming in the Royal National Institute for the Blind's commercial college in London.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many registered disabled people are currently employed in the computer industry.

[pursuant to his reply, 29 October 1980, c. 225]: I am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that this information is not available as no statistics are kept on the numbers of registered disabled people by industry.

asked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current number of job vacancies in the computer industry.

[pursuant to his reply, 29 October 1980, c. 225]: At 8 August, the latest date for which the quarterly industrial analysis is available, there were 526 notified vacancies remaining unfilled at employment offices and 29 at careers offices in the United Kingdom in the electronic computers manufacturing industry (Minimum List Heading 366 of the Standard Industrial Classification).Vacancies notified to employment offices are estimated to be about one-third of all vacancies in the economy as a whole. Because of possible duplication the figures for employment offices and careers offices should not be added together.