Oceanography and Underwater Technology (Hansard, 9 July 1969)

§ 21. Mr. Moonman
asked the Minister of Technology what steps he has taken to give support to oceanography and underwater technology; and if he will make a statement of Her Majesty's Government's future plans in these fields.

§ Mr. Fowler
Support for oceanography comes from the N.E.R.C., which is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science. Marine technology is under constant discussion by the Inter-departmental Advisory Committee on Marine Technology which was set up in April, 1968. A number of contracts have been placed by the Department on behalf of this committee during the past year. Information about some of these has appeared in the Press, and announcements about future contracts will be made whenever appropriate.

§ Mr. Moonman
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the task of contemporary Government is to try to assess the advanced industries which can be exploited commercially over a period of 10 or 15 years, and does he agree that oceanography is one such, and that it may well be that, if he can get the structure right in the Government, where two Departments are involved, we might consider this as a suitable project for co-ordination and collaboration in Europe?

§ Mr. Fowler
I am interested in my hon. Friend's last proposition. It is important to distinguish the pure science aspects of oceanographic work and the part of the work which may have a payoff in economic terms, to which, perhaps, underwater technology is crucially relevant.

§ Sir H. Legge-Bourke
How did it come about that the Committee on Marine Technology was set up nearly a year before publication of the White Paper which eventually recommended its setting up? Second, will the hon. Gentleman say why industry was not brought into it, too?

§ Mr. Fowler
On the latter point, industry is consulted regularly on a firm-by-firm basis. It would be difficult, however, to have industry represented on the committee since that would mean selecting one or two firms from a range of competitors, which could only cause ill will and produce a situation in which no one would be willing to reveal all the cards in his hand. As to why the Committee was set up so early, that is merely a demonstration of how rapidly the Ministry of Technology moves.

§ Mr. Hector Hughes
Will my hon. Friend say, in reference to the matters envisaged in this Question, what kind of support he gives—scientific or financial—and what tests he applies to ensure that both his support and public money are not wasted?

§ Mr. Fowler
The support given consists in part of technical knowledge, technical expertise, but it consists also of financial support. I mentioned the contracts which the Department has placed with various outside bodies as well as Government research stations. The normal tests to make sure that the cost-benefits of such work are adequate apply in this field as in any other.