§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will ensure that a record is kept in future of the percentage of his Department's research and development budget which is allocated to firms employing fewer than 200 people.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinNo. Most biomedical, Health Service and social security research, which together comprises the great bulk of the Department's research budget, is necessarily commissioned from university departments. On building and engineering research, I draw my hon. Friend's attention to the reply of my hon. Friend, the Under-Secretary of State to him of 19 May.—[Vol. 5, c.76.] In general, research commissions are placed with the most suitable contractor and it would add to administrative costs to introduce the kind of statistical return which my hon. Friend has in mind.