HC Deb 02 November 1976 vol 918 cc1185-6
9. Mr. Macfarlane

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she has yet had discussions with the Chairman of the Science Research Council.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

Yes Sir, on 1st November.

Mr. Macfarlane

Is the right hon. Lady aware that I am grateful that that meeting has taken place? Is she not seriously concerned at the cut-backs forced upon the Science Research Council which may well prevent it from sustaining the necessary standard of education and research in universities? Can she give the House an assurance that after giving science a low priority for two and a half years the Government will provide new initiatives and encouragement?

Mrs. Williams

It is true that the science budget has suffered from a limited reduction in the current year. However, the much more serious factor which has affected the budget has been the effect on international subscriptions of the fall in the value of the pound, since international subscriptions are expressed in currency units and not in national currencies. We are consulting about this matter. As a result of my discussions with the Chairman of the Science Research Council and also with the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Research Councils I have concluded that a good deal of new and important work will, nevertheless, be able to go ahead.

Mr. Nelson

Will the right hon. Lady say whether she has had discussions with the SRC about the progress of the teaching companies experiment which is being carried out in conjunction with the Department of Industry? Does she feel that this experiment is doing anything more than paying lip service to the need for a greater degree of technology transfer and for a better relationship between universities and industry? Will she consider extending the scheme to far more companies than the present limited number, which tend to be in the higher echelon of industrial performance and are consequently not open to a large number of postgraduate students?

Mrs. Williams

The "teaching company" concept is an interesting one. We have to see how the experiment works out before extending it. It would be disastrous to extend it and then to discover that it was a failure. What we should do is to see whether the experiment works out and whether it can be extended not only to universities but to polytechnics, so that far more students of engineering technologies can gain direct and first-hand experience in industry while studying.