Councils in west London have spent nearly £100,000 buying tablet computers for councillors.

However, it is not clear whether the spending has resulted in any saving in terms of making it easier for councillors to access documents and thus saving money on printing and postage.

Harrow council has spent £37,312 on buying iPads for all its councillors, including £9,839.60 for training. However, it cannot say whether the spending has cut printing costs, only that it spends about £15,800 a year.

A Harrow Council spokesman said: “These iPads are a cheaper alternative to laptops allowing all 63 councillors to carry out their ward work and respond to residents at any time of the day.

“We also anticipate the iPads will remove the need to print out large bulky documents at committee meetings, which will save considerable sums of money on printing costs.

“The iPads remain property of the council and are only loaned to the councillors while they are a member of the council.”

Brent has spent £32,178 buying iPad 3s for all its councillors, including £3,715 on accessories and £2,569.90 on repairing 10 damaged iPads, while Hounslow £25,120 on 30 iPad 2s and 19 iPad Airs.

Both councils said buying the tablets was part of a drive to cut costs and improve their use of technology but with Hounslow only buying the tablets in April and May, the council said it was too early to tell what savings had been made.

Brent is budgeting savings of £308,000 over four years in the business case for getting the tablets, and said so far it has spent slightly less than planned on the rollout and has saved on 3G data costs by not having to purchase a separate contract.

Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster have not purchased tablets for their councillors. Hillingdon has not responded to the request.

The figures are from Freedom of Information Act requests to councils asking for the cost of of tablet computers, if they have bought them for councillors, as well as spending on accessories and repairs.

Councils were also asked how much money they were spending on printing and distributing council documents to councillors before and after purchasing tablets.

Reducing the cost of printed papers has often been cited as a potential saving for the council as a result of buying tablets for councillors.