§ 47. Mr. Aylesasked the Lord President of the Council the present expenditure by His Majesty's Government on engineering research and development; the total number of men and women engaged in this research; and what immediate plans are under consideration for expanding such research.
§ The Lord President of the Council (Mr. Herbert Morrison)As the answer is somewhat long and contains a number of figures, I will, with my hon. Friend's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the reply:
§ The estimated expenditure by His Majesty's Government for the current financial year directly classifiable as for engineering research and development is£740,000. This includes work carried out by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and by the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering. The staff, men and women, employed on this work numbers 1,049. Fifteen Industrial Research Associations are engaged primarily on engineering research and development, and they received during the last financial year£245,000 in Government grant through the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. They employ about 960 staff. In addition to work which is directly classifiable as engineering research or development, a large proportion of the research and development work undertaken by some other Government Departments has engineering applications or aspects. This is predominantly the case in the Ministry of Supply and Admiralty which undertake research on armaments, ship propulsion plant and aircraft, and the results of this research are made available, where possible, to industry. The same applies, to some extent, to the Ministries of Works, Fuel and Power, and Transport. Engineering research and development are also an important part of the work of a number of Industrial Research Associations, such as the Textile Associations, not primarily concerned with engineering. It is not possible, however, to separate the cost from the total research and development 1671 expenditure of the Departments and associations. Fundamental engineering research is carried out by universities which receive Government grants through the University Grants Committee. Plans for expansion are under consideration and, in many cases, being carried out. The whole field of engineering research for civil needs has just been examined by my Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and I have approved proposals for the establishment of a Mechanical Engineering Research Establishment and an Establishment for research on loose boundary hydraulics to be carried out by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.