§ 6. Mr. David Watkinsasked the Minister of Technology if he will establish a Government civil research station in the north-east of England development area.
§ Dr. BrayThere is no present requirement for a new research station. In the event of any new research station being set up, the claims of development areas will be given special consideration. Industrial Research and Development Ltd. in Newcastle has some Government contracts and I hope will get more.
§ Mr. WatkinsAs my hon. Friend recognises that there is no Government research station in the North-East, may I ask whether he does not consider this detrimental to research in that region?
§ Dr. BrayYes, the imbalance of distribution of research stations is a matter which we inherited from the previous Government and which we are doing our best to redress. It is, however, plainly folly to create new research stations when they are not needed.
§ 7. Mr. David Watkinsasked the Minister of Technology what steps he is taking to ensure that the various research associations with which he is concerned establish research stations in the North-East of England development area.
§ Dr. BrayThe iron making research of the British Iron and Steel Research Association has recently been concentrated in a new laboratory on Tees-side. As further developments of research associations take place the claims of development areas will be considered.
§ Mr. WatkinsWhile I cannot accept the contention that further research is not needed in the North-East, may I ask whether my hon. Friend would agree that if research facilities there are not increased the region will be inevitably condemned over a lengthy period to production of a type which is steadily becoming more obsolete?
§ Dr. BrayI did not say that more research was not needed in the North-East, but that we did not need a new Government research station nationally. Steps are being taken to increase research in the North-East. The B.S.R.A. research laboratory is one example of this.
§ Mr. HooleyWould not my hon. Friend agree that it is important for contacts between academic and industrial research that too many research centres should not be concentrated in London and the Home Counties.
§ Dr. BrayYes, I entirely agree, and closer contact between academic and industrial research is one of the purposes which the industrial liaison officer system of the Ministry was set up to achieve.
§ Mr. David PriceWould the hon. Gentleman not agree—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Back to Question Time.
§ Mr. PriceWould the hon. Gentleman not agree that the purpose of his hon. Friend's Question and the Minister's reply would best be achieved by pressing ahead with a technological university in the North-East?
§ Dr. BrayThe hon. Member has raised a question with which he knows very well I am closely identified. It is my great regret that when the new universities were being established by the last Government, none of them was placed in a development area.