HC Deb 28 May 1962 vol 660 cc949-50
8. Mr. Wolrige-Gordon

asked the Parliamentary Secretary for Science whether he is yet in a position to give further information about the Advisory Committee on Meat Research and the substation due to be established in Aberdeenshire.

Mr. Denzil Freeth

I would refer my hon. Friend to my letter to him of 24th May.

Mr. Woltige-Gordon

While thanking my hon. Friend for that reply and for his letter, may I impress upon him not only the quality of the work done in Aberdeen in meat production but also the high quality and record of scientific work carried out in that city up to date?

Mr. Freeth

I agree that very good work indeed is done in Aberdeen in research into animal breeding, and in the raising of animals I would pay tribute to the Rowett Research Institute.

Mr. Mitchison

Would the hon. Gentleman not publish the letter, or the substance of it, in the OFFICIAL REPORT so that we may all be informed of this invaluable communication?

Mr. Freeth

Unless my hon. Friend the Member for East Aberdeenshire (Mr. Wolrige-Gordon) disagrees, which I do not think he will, I will see that that is done.

Following is the letter: I am sorry to have been so long in replying to your letter of 4th May. In carrying out its plans for the establishment of the Meat Research Institute, the Agricultural Research Council is giving first priority to the finding of a Director-Designate of Meat Research, in order that he may take as full a part as possible in the detailed planning. A decision whether, and if so where, substations shall be set up is not likely to be taken until after his appointment, and probably not for six months or more. The Council is, of course, well aware of the claims of Aberdeenshire as a site for a substation (as well as the competing claims of other areas). I should however add that the Council feels that the organisation of meat research in the wider sense will call for a considerable degree of correlation in the programmes of a number of agricultural research institutes: the basic studies of dead meat, which will mostly be done at Bristol, must be related to what is being done elsewhere on breeding nutrition and management. Consequently the Council's plans for meat research in general must involve Scottish stations such as the Animal Breeding Research Organisation at Edinburgh and the Rowett Research Insttitute. The Advisory Committee on Meat Research will be appointed by the Agricultural Research Council. It is intended that the Committee's membership will include meat producers, processors, and scientists; but in accordance with the Council's normal practice members will be invited to serve in a personal capacity and not as representatives of particular organisations.