asked Her Majesty's Government:(1) How many computers have been purchased for use in Government Departments, and in organisations for which the Government is financially responsible; (2) how many are from British companies; (3) how many cost £40,000 or less.
My Lords, the available information is as follows:
| Government Departments* | Computers in use | Number costing £40,000 or less |
| Administrative and general purposes | 120 (87) | 10 |
| Scientific and technical purposes | 93 (60) | 45 (22) |
| Other Organisations† for which the Government is Financially Responsible‡ | ||
| National Health Service | 89 (38) | 66 (22) |
| Research Councils | 55 (21) | 41 (12) |
| Notes: | ||
| *As at December 31, 1971. These figures exclude: | ||
| Computers in the Post Office and bodies which are not Central Government Departments, e.g. U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, | ||
| Analog and hybrid computers, | ||
| Computers costing less than £10,000, | ||
| Computers used for control system purposes (process control, flight simulators, weapons systems and like purposes), | ||
| Processor controlled keying systems used for the purpose of preparing data for input to computer systems. | ||
| † Not including universities which are the responsibility of the Computers Board. | ||
| ‡ As at mid-1971. These figures exclude: | ||
| Analog and hybrid computers, | ||
| Processor controlled keying systems used for the purpose of preparing data for input to computer systems, | ||
| but include: | ||
| Computers costing less than £10,000, | ||
| Some computers used for control system purposes (e.g. on-line experiments). | ||
General:
The number of computers purchased from British Companies is shown in brackets. British companies in this context means U.K.-owned Companies as listed in the Memorandum by the Department of Trade and Industry to the Select Committee on Science and Technology (Sub-Committee A) in the Minutes of Evidence for February 10, 1971. This includes I.C.L., Ferranti, G.E.C., Computer Technology and Digico.
Rented computers have been included at a notional value representative of their purchase price.