asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list those companies to which his Department has awarded contracts for the supply of word processing hardware and software in each year since 1984; and what was the value of each contract.

The main suppliers of dedicated word processing hardware and software to the Department of Trade and Industry, central purchasing organisation since 1984 have been: BT (Merlin), GEC Reliance, ICL, Logica VTS, Olympia and Thorn EMI. The details of contracts placed are subject to commercial confidentiality.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much his Department has spent on (a) word processing hardware and (b) word processing software in each year since 1984; and what is the projected expenditure for financial years 1987–88 and 1988–89.

Expenditure by the central purchasing organisation of the Department of Trade and Industry on word processing hardware and software since 1984 has been, or is estimated to be, as follows:

	£
1984–85	556,000
1985–86	361,000
1986–87	234,000
1987–88	300,000
1988–89	350,000

The cost of word processing software is normally included in the price of dedicated word processors. The Department has also purchased microcomputers and other hardware for other applications. A small but unspecified amount of word processing is carried out as a secondary function on some of this hardware.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list those companies to which his Department has awarded contracts for the supply of desktop publishing hardware and software in each year since 1984; and what was the value of each contract.

The central purchasing organisation of the Department of Trade and Industry did not purchase any desktop publishing hardware or software in the years 1984–85 or 1985–86. Limited purchasing took place in 1986–87 but the names of the companies concerned cannot be disclosed because of commercial confidentiality.

Distribution of total income1 in 1987–88 for taxpaying single people and married couples with investment income of more than £500 per annum
Numbers of incomes (thousands)
Total income1 (lower limit)	Tax units2 aged under 653			Tax units2 aged 65 and over3
£ per annum	Single people	Married couples with no wife's earned income	Married couples with wife's earned income	Single people	Married couples with no wife's earned income	Married couples with wife's earned income
2,000	160	negligible	negligible	180	negligible	negligible
5,000	90	30	20	130	110	20
7,000	110	60	60	130	80	70
10,000	40	50	60	50	30	30
12,000	60	50	110	50	30	40
15,000	80	60	270	40	30	50
20,000	60	90	310	30	30	60
30,000	30	70	210	10	20	20
50,000	10	30	60	10	10	10
1 Gross income for income tax purposes.
2 Counting each married couple as one unit and combining the partners' incomes.
3 A married couple is taken to be aged 65 or over if at least one partner is aged 65 or over.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much his Department has spent on (a) desktop publishing hardware and (b) desktop publishing software in each year since 1984; and what is projected expenditure for financial years 1987–88 and 1988–89.

Expenditure by the central purchasing organisation of the Department of Trade and Industry on desktop publishing hardware and software since 1984 has been, or is estimated to be, as follows:

	£
1984–85	Nil
1985–86	Nil
1986–87	28,000
1987–88	70,000
1988–89	50,000

The cost of desktop publishing software was included in the price of the hardware purchases and is not separately identifiable in the projected expenditure.