§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the expenditure of the Science and Engineering Research Council for 1980–81; what were the sources of those sums; what was spent by the council on (a) nuclear sciences, (b) high energy sciences and (c) other headings; and if he will give the comparable figures for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. William SheltonThe Science and Engineering Research Council's expenditure is financed entirely from Vote 17 of Class X of the Supply Estimates. For 1979–80 and 1980–81, at outturn prices, the council's net expenditure was as follows:
£ million 1979–80 1980–81 (i) Science (including biology, chemistry, computing, mathematics, neutron beam research and physics) 31.8 40.1 (ii) Nuclear physics (including nuclear structure and high energy physics) 47.0 43.5 (iii) Engineering 31.8 40.1 (iv) Astronomy, space and radio 31.0 34.9 (v) Centrally supported activities, administration, etc 16.2 18.4 TOTAL 175.7 201.3 I am obtaining comparable figures for earlier years and will send them to the hon. Member as soon as they are available.