§ 3.13 p.m.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the 180 million u.a. Community Research Programme agreed by the Community Council of Ministers on February 6, 1973, will come from British sources; what proportion of the 1,700 personnel proposed to be employed on this programme will be British; and what consultations took place with British research organisations and with industry generally before the British Minister on the Council agreed to this programme.
§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD DRUMALBYN)My Lords, I apologise for the length of this Answer. Although decisions of broad principle on a 4-year Community Research Programme were taken on February 6 by the Council of Ministers, details are still being worked out in discussions between the European Commission and Member States. It is hoped to complete this process by the end of April. It has been agreed that all United Kingdom contributions will be made on the basis of Article 130 of the Treaty of Accession; that is, on an upward sliding scale beginning in 1973 at 45 per cent. of our expected contribution to Community funding after the end of the transitional period, January 1, 1978. On the assumption of a programme costing 180 million units of account (about £75 million) the United Kingdom contribution over four years would probably be some 20 to 25 million units of account, about £8 million to £10 million.
As yet, there are no British staff employed in the Joint Research Centre itself; but we shall expect gradually to obtain our reasonable share of posts as in other parts of the institutions of the Community. Moreover, several parts of the research programme will undoubtedly 425 be carried out under contract by laboratories outside the Joint Research Centre. One such contract might be between the Commission and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority concerning the work at the Culham Laboratory on the development of a fusion reactor. The number of U.K.A.E.A. professional staff likely to be involved is some 160 to 180. In addition there will be United Kingdom/Commission contracts for research in radiobiology and other fields. There was (and continues to be) close consultation with many interested organisations, especially with the U.K.A.E.A., in agreeing the Community research programme.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord for the information that he has given. May I ask him whether he is aware that I am by no means against this research programme? I am just at a loss to understand how it is compiled and how the British interest is taken into account. May I ask the noble Lord whether he is aware—as I hope he is—that we have spent a good deal of time in this House and in another place and in Select Committees, discussing the principles which lie behind any research in this country? Also, may I ask him to what extent the principles eventually agreed are to be embodied into the European programme, and to what extent Parliament will be brought into the compilation of the European programme?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, as the noble Lord is aware, the Joint Research Centre was set up under the Euratom Treaty and consists of four establishments in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. The principles which have guided the United Kingdom in dealing with this matter are, first of all, to make certain that good value is likely to be obtained for the money spent; and secondly, to see that work to be done in Community institutions is related to actually recognised needs—or more precisely, since it was first enunciated a year or so ago, to the customer/contractor principle. So that the principles are the same. What has happened in the past is that there has been an annual meeting to set up an annual programme. The advance that has now been made is to set up a four-year programme, choosing very carefully the subjects to be researched into.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, may I ask one final question of the noble Lord? What in the view of the British Government should be the priority, so far as this research is concerned? In which field do they think priority should be placed?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, it is, of course, inevitable that, as this stems from Euratom, there is a good deal of emphasis on the nuclear side and a large part of the expenditure is on this. It can be of use to us in, for example, the study of materials, the study of reactor safety, the work of the Central Bureau for Nuclear Measurements and so forth, including the treatment and storage of radioactive waste. On the non-nuclear side, there is study into the environment, the recycling of raw materials, hydrogen production and so forth. The principle throughout is to try to have common programmes which fit in with the individual programmes that are being carried out in the various member countries, and I hope that this will work out well. Certainly it would accord with the principles that we have been working on.
§ LORD WYNNE-JONESMy Lords, can the noble Lord tell us by how much the work is being reduced, and what reduction there is in the staff? Can he also tell us whether this reduction is a result of the policy of Her Majesty's Government?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNNo, my Lords; I do not think it is true that the work is being reduced. One part of the programme consists of 11 nuclear projects providing for 1,440 people. Another part involves the provision of a further 209 people. So I do not think it is true to say that the work is now being reduced. I cannot of course help what happened before we came into the Community.
§ LORD WYNNE-JONESMy Lords, can the noble Lord be a little more explicit on this point? Is it not true that the number employed previously was approximately twice the figure of 1,700 which is mentioned in the Question? Is it not also true that the reduction is a consequence of opposition by Her Majesty's Government to the programme?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, I am not aware that that is so. The past history has been a somewhat unhappy 427 one, as I said, with a kind of annual wrangle as to what work should be done from year to year. We are now trying to get it on a more permanent basis and, as I said, it is anticipated that the number will be increased. But I shall certainly look at the point made by the noble Lord and will be glad to write to him about it.
§ LORD KINGS NORTONMy Lords, can the Minister say what are the percentage contributions of the several Member States?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, I cannot give the contributions of all the Member States. For our part we start off with a contribution of 45 per cent. of the 19 per cent. which we shall ultimately arrive at. I think that the contributions made by the other major Powers are about that, and the minor ones are of course less.