§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will now answer Questions relating to payments to named companies under the Science and Technology Act 1965.
§ Mr. Anthony GrantFor reasons of commercial confidence it is not the normal practice to reveal details of payments by the Government to named firms.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the total amount of money advanced under the Science and Technology Act 1965 between the date of enactment and June 1970 and thereafter including projected grants to International Computers Ltd.
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§ Mr. ChatawayUnder the Science and Technology Act 1965 approximately £0–5 million was paid to ICL or the companies from which it was formed in respect of various cost-shared R and D contracts up to June 1970. Since that date, a further £43 million has been paid or committed to ICL under the Act, made up of the £40 million support for general R and D in the period to September 1976 which I announced on 4th July—[Vol. 859, c. 529.]—and about £3 million for specific cost-shared R and D projects.
These figures exclude payments made to ICL under the 1968 computers merger scheme, covered by the Industrial Expansion Act 1968.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funds have been made available to the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority under Section 4 of the Science and Technology Act 1965 in the last five years; and for what purposes.
§ Mr. EmeryThe net cost to the atomic energy Vote of work undertaken by the AEA under Section 4 of the Science and Technology Act 1965 in the five years to 31st March 1973 was some £12 million. Most of this work fell into six broad areas of technology: plant performance and reliability, process development, materials development and quality control, electro-technology, computing and computer software and environmental research.