HC Deb 08 April 1986 vol 95 cc12-3
11. Mr. Soames

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent representations he has received on the size of the 1986–87 science budget.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science (Mr. George Walden)

My right hon. Friend has received 193 representations about the resources available for science. These representations relate generally to the Government's plans for science funding over a period of years rather than to the budget for a specific year. The Government's plans for the science budget will be reviewed during the annual public expenditure survey.

Mr. Soames

Is my hon. Friend aware of the very great concern felt in all parts of the House that if we are to compete with the Japanese and United States of America we must spend a great deal more money on civil research and not so much on military research? Does he agree that we should have a national policy, and will he take steps to move towards that?

Mr. Walden

There is a standing case for spending more on science, as there is in many other areas, but it is a question of priorities. It is a question of getting the money first and of making sure that that money is well spent. In that connection, I should like to pay tribute to the considerable efforts made by the research councils to rationalise the way in which money is spent. But it is not just a question of the Government spending money; industry, too, should spend more on research and development. Pointing to the fact that British business spends less on research and development than any other Western economic competitor, and to the fact that our wage increases are higher by far than those of any other economic competitor, my right hon. Friend recently described that as "a suicide pact".

Mrs. Renée Short

Does the Minister accept that one of the major criticisms of his Department is that resources for teaching and research in science are not adequate? Is it not nonsense that in industrial areas we should be closing down science departments in polytechnics? What will he do about that? Does he not think that a Minister for Science should be appointed?

Mr. Walden

My right hon. Friend earlier described the so-called cuts in polytechnics as rubbish. I do not think I can do better than that. I am sure the hon. Lady knows that it would be wrong to lend her name to a campaign of alarmism about so-called cuts in polytechnics. [Interruption.] I am chairman of the relevant committee of the NAB, which has made no such recommendation for cuts; has my right hon. Friend. He will be considering in the normal way at the end of the year, in the first round, the amount of money available for expenditure in the public sector of higher education.

Sir Anthony Grant

Is my hon. Friend aware that in Cambridge at least there are definite signs of a brain drain, which could be resolved by the expenditure of a relatively small sum of money? Will he and his colleagues fight the Treasury on this much more vigorously in the future than in the past?

Mr. Walden

My hon. Friend makes a point to which we are devoting considerable attention. We are awaiting a report from the Royal Society on the brain drain. We also listen carefully to the representations from the "Save British Science Campaign", which includes many distinguished men and women.