英国莱切斯特市议会近期宣布将出资近4万英镑为全部54名议员配备iPad，以提高工作效率并节省办公支出。

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A cash-strapped council has been criticized after it announced plans to spend nearly £40,000 of taxpayers' money on iPads for every councilor.

A cash-strapped council has been criticized after it announced plans to spend nearly £40,000 of taxpayers' money on iPads for every councilor.

Leicester City Council is preparing to issue all 54 councilors with the Apple tablet computers from next May.

Four councilors have already been given iPads, each costing around £700, as a trial.

One councilor justified²（调整，证明正当） the move claiming her laptop was ''heavy'' making it difficult to take to several meetings a day.

Council chiefs, who are expected to axe³（削减，砍） 1,000 jobs, claim the iPads will save money.

Labor⁴ councilor Sarah Russell, who is awaiting delivery of the highest-spec 64 gigabyte model, said: ''We're trying out（试验，考验） the iPad to see whether it improves the way we work as councilors.

''If it does, and it can replace costly⁵ printing, then the council could potentially save £90,000 each year. I have a laptop but it is quite heavy, meaning it is awkward（尴尬的，笨拙的） to take to several meetings in a day.

''It also has to be charged much more regularly than an iPad.''

Conservative group leader Ross Grant, who has one on trial, claimed the iPad made him ''more productive''.

He said: ''The iPad has made me even more productive as a councilor.

''Whenever a constituent⁶ stops me in the street I can write down and begin researching their problem immediately on the iPad, because I'm connected to the internet right around the city.

''Also when I'm in key meetings I've asked for council agendas to be e-mailed as PDF files to the iPad so I no longer need printed documents. This could save the council money in the long term.''

But one senior councilor said: ''As soon as we all heard that three councilors were getting iPads everyone started asking for one.

''I suppose it'll be handy to have, but the expense is a little bit awkward at a time of cuts.''

Matthew Sinclair, Research Director at the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "It is right that the council should try to avoid wasting paper where they can.

"But incredible that they think that means providing councilors with flash new iPads at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.

"A small, affordable⁷ laptop would do the same job, though it certainly wouldn't be as exciting a perk⁸（小费，额外收入） for the councilors.

"With ordinary taxpayers struggling after a decade in which council tax has nearly doubled and with grants from central government likely to be under pressure more needs to be done to ensure spending is focused on priority services and these kinds of wasteful⁹ projects are cut out. If councilors want an iPad they can buy one themselves."