§ THE EARL OF SHANNONMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper, and I declare an interest.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have been actively considering the closure or partial closure of RA3 Branch of the Ministry of Technology and allocating some or all of their duties and responsibilities to other Ministries or Departments.]
§ THE EARL OF SHANNONMy Lords, may I thank the Minister for that short and helpful reply?
§ LORD DELACOURT-SMITHMy Lords, could the noble Earl tell us whether it is the intention to continue with interested parties the consultations on research organisation, broadly along the lines of the Green Paper on the subject presented by the previous Administration?
THE EARL OF BESSBOROUGHMy Lords, no decisions have yet been taken on the future organisation of Government Departments, and certainly not on detailed organisation within the Ministry of Technology. But we will bear in mind the terms of the Green Paper issued by the last Government, even if we cannot fully endorse them.