§ Mr. McKelveyasked the Secretary of State for Energy what factors he takes into account in allocating the energy research and development budget of his Department between nuclear and other sources of energy.
§ Mr. John MooreDecisions on the nuclear and non-nuclear R and D budgets administered by the Department take account of overall Government economic policy and the level of and scope for non-Government funding, notably by customers for the technologies in question. In reaching these decisions a consistent approach is adopted to ensure that there are adequate funds to mount effective R and D programmes and that the expenditure in each area of work is related both to how quickly new technologies will be introduced and what the likely scale of their contribution to future United Kingdom energy supplies will be.