§ Mr. Russellasked the Parliamentary Secretary for Science if he is aware that the original estimated costs of most of the building schemes of the Agricultural Research Council listed in Class VII, Vote 6, Appendix III of the Civil Estimates, 1963–64, are greatly exceeded by the current estimates; and what unforeseen circumstances have caused these increases.
§ Mr. Denzil FreethThe original figures were provisional estimates of costs prepared before detailed plans had been drawn up. They are revised as planning advances and as it becomes possible to make more precise estimates. A number of the increases shown in Appendix III to Class VII, Vote 6 of the 1963–64 Estimates, are, as the footnotes indicate, due to major changes in the character of certain of the projects since their original inception. Other causes are increases in wages and prices, the inclusion of equipment hitherto considered separately, and the need for additional space or other requirements found to be necessary in the course of detailed planning.