§ 11. Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Minister of Technology what steps he is taking to give greater support to oceanography and underwater technology; and what help he is giving to the Imperial College project "Kraken" designed to enable oceanographic research to be carried out in a permanent, moveable, underwater laboratory.
§ Mr. BennI am preparing technological proposals to discuss with those of my right hon. Friends with responsibilities in this field. The Imperial College project "Kraken" has been discussed with officials of my Ministry. The provision of facilities for carrying out oceanographic research is a matter for the university concerned which is supported by the University Grants Committee or appropriate Research Council.
§ Mr. RobertsAs two-thirds of the surface of this globe is water, can my right hon. Friend assure us that sufficient importance will be given to this matter? What additional steps are envisaged, following the atomic energy conference about the sea and the sea bed?
§ Mr. BennFollowing the conference at Harwell to which my hon. Friend referred, further work is going on on the proposals which emerged and I referred to this in my Answer. I entirely agree that a good deal of work needs to be done in this area, and we, as a Department, are very interested in it.
§ Mr. HooleyAre any discussions going on with other European countries in this sector of technology?
§ Mr. BennAs my hon. Friend knows, there is a good deal of interest in this in Europe. When I was in the United States, I discussed the work being done there in this field. It is almost inevitable that most advanced countries will be concerned with this and we shall have to see what scope there is for collaboration.