§ 3.8 p.m.
§ Lord BUXTON of ALSAMy 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, in view of the threat to this country's established position of leadership and influence in the Antarctic, whether they will reconsider the proposal to cut the budget of the British Antarctic Survey.
§ Baroness YOUNGMy Lords, my noble friend will be aware that the British Antarctic Survey is one of several component bodies of the Natural Environment Research Council, which receives a grant-in-aid from the Science Budget of the Department of Education and Science. I assume that his Question refers to a 1203 tentative proposal by the council to make a small reduction in the provision for the normal running costs of the British Antarctic Survey, starting in 1982–83. In 1980–81, this provision amounts to £4.4 million, or 10 per cent. of the council's grant-in-aid. No decisions about any possible reduction have been made.
The council has discretion to apportion its grant-in-aid as it sees fit, in the light of scientific criteria. I understand that, outside the normal provision for the survey, the council has made or is planning capital expenditure of £3.1 million up to 1982–83 on the renewal of ships, aircraft and bases. Such capital expenditure is designed to ensure that the survey can continue to undertake research which the council considers to be of high priority, and to contribute to the international scientific programme of the region.
§ Lord BUXTON of ALSAMy Lords, may I thank the noble Baroness for her reply and for outlining the current situation? However, are the Government aware that other nations, both East and West, are massively increasing their expenditure and their activities in the Antarctic and that therefore there is now a real danger that Britain will lose its traditional influence and position in the Antarctic? Is she further aware that if it is cut the amounts are so marginal, in such a marginal budget, that this could have serious results for Britain's interests in the future, which are not only scientific but also strategic and considerably political?
§ Baroness YOUNGMy Lords, I think my noble friend will recognise from the Answer which I have already given him that we do realise the importance of the work of the British Antarctic Survey, not only for scientific research but in our standing in the world. We do not believe that the scale of the reductions which the council are considering will be such as seriously to weaken the United Kingdom's leading position in the Antarctic. I am sure that my noble friend would recognise that at a time of financial stringency it would be wrong to exempt totally any one sector of publicly-funded scientific research from bearing its share of the reductions.