I have a new hp laptop running windows 7. Whilst typing in word today the shift keys suddenly stopped capitalising certain letters, QWERUIOP ASDFJKL.
Any ideas gratefully received.

Hopefully your keyboard isn't broken. If you downloaded any new updates, that may be a problem, although I doubt it. Make sure caps lock isn't on. Other than that, I would need more information to say what the problem is. Does this always happen when using Word? If you go to type somewhere else, say in your browser, does it still not work?

Does this happen even when you use the other shift button?

If not, then you have a temporary fix. My guess though is that your keyboard needs to be replaced.

Does the problem only exist in Word? To test you could try the programnotepad. If your laptop is still within the return policy I would exchange it for a different one. If the problem only exists in word I would try to uninstall it and reinstall.