asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to which firms his Department has awarded contracts for computer hardware for each year since 1984; and what was the value of each contract.

The main suppliers of computer hardware to the Department of Trade and Industry are: ICL, WANG and DEC. In addition, the following companies have supplied hardware to the Department: IBM, McDonnell Douglas, Norsk Data, Datapoint, Apricot, Perkin Elmer. The details of the contracts placed are commercially confidential.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his Department has spent on (a) computer hardware and (b) computer software for each year since 1984; and what is the projected expenditure for 1987.

Expenditure by the Department of Trade and Industry on (a) computer hardware, including hardware maintenance, and (b) software, excluding software development undertaken in-house by civil servants and consultants, in connection with administrative computer systems is as follows: