§ Mr. McTaggartasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report the total amount of funds his Department has allocated to medical research work in Scotland in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe table below shows the expenditure by my Department in the support of medical research in Scotland for the last five financial years:—
Year ending Expenditure 31 March £ 1977–78 2,244,779 1978–79 2,337,253 1979–80 3,194,141 1980–81 3,844,166 1981–82 2,435,796 The figures for 1977–78 to 1980–81 include expenditure of approximately £1.1 million, £1.3 million, £1.5 million and £1.9 million respectively against funds transferred to my 507W Department from the Department of Education and Science budget for the commissioning of research by my Department from the Medical Research Council. As from 1 April 1981 such funds were, under the new Concordat between the Health Departments and the Medical Research Council, transferred back to the science budget of the Department of Education and Science with the Medical Research Council continuing to meet the needs and priorities of the Health Departments in the Council's programme of biomedical research.