§ Mr. Douglas Hoggasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the future of the Soil Survey.
§ Mrs. FennerThe Soil Survey of England and Wales has its headquarters at the Rothamsted experimental station which is a state-aided institute of the Agricultural and Food Research Council. The council receives a grant-in-aid from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science, but the work of the survey is at present commissioned and funded entirely by my Department. As well as being applicable to agriculture, its work is drawn on by a number of non-agricultural interests.
We are at present considering the Department's funding of the survey, which amounted to £1.9 million in 1983–84, following a periodic review of our commissioned research and development work on soil science. An announcement will be made when my consideration is complete.