§ Sir William van Straubenzeeasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress has been made by member Governments in consideration of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN, proposal for a large electronpositron accelerator and storage ring, LEP; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Mark CarlisleThe proposal was discussed at the meeting of the CERN Council on 25 June. Nine members, including the United Kingdom, voted in favour and it is expected that the remaining three will do so later on this year. United Kingdom participation will be managed through the Science and Engineering Research Council which is today publishing a statement. With my agreement the council recorded formal caveats concerning unforeseen variation in cost and duration of the project or in the council's own funds. It is hoped that work on LEP will begin in 1982 and the first experiments should start in about five years' time. The total cost of the project is expected to be about 900 million Swiss francs at 1980 prices. CERN is the largest single customer in Switzerland for United Kingdom exports and past experience suggests that LEP will offer substantial opportunities to United Kingdom industry: benefits to a firm that arise from selling a product to CERN have averaged four times the revenue from that sale.