§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Industry what work his Department currently is carrying out into ways of promoting the research and development of biotechnology.
§ Mr. WakehamThe Department supports research in biotechnology through the Materials and Chemicals Requirements Board, and some £700,000 is being spent this year. The number of contacts made with the board and Department point to this source of support becoming fairly widely known. Much current work in the area is academically based and recently announced formation of a biotechnology directorate of the Science and Engineering Research Council was therefore of major importance. The Department has established close links with the directorate from the outset and is actively considering what further measures including publicity, may be needed to promote work in industry to complement and link with that in the academic sphere.