asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proposals he has for continued support for the development of advanced information technology in Britain beyond the cessation of the Alvey programme in 1988.

The community of those involved in relevant research and development is currently formulating its views on the need for further activity of this sort. Such views will need to be taken into account before any decisions are taken and they will need to be assessed in the light of current proposals for advanced technological collaboration at the European level.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has as to the percentage of research and development work being undertaken in Britain at present in advanced information technology represented by work funded under the Alvey programme.

Data are not available in this detail. Independent evaluations of the Alvey programme have been commissioned which should go some way to answering this question. These will be published.