The Earl of Cranbrookasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have received the report of the Priorities Board and whether they will make a Statement.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Belstead)The Priorities Board for Research and Development in Agriculture and Food has now delivered its first report to agriculture ministers and the chairman of the Agricultural and Food Research Council. We are most grateful to Sir Kenneth Durham and the board for the work which they have undertaken.
The report considers the whole of the publicly-funded research and development programme for agriculture and food in the United Kingdom and makes recommendations to the sponsors about future resource allocations and priorities. We are agreed that the broad thrust of the board's advice should guide us in the formulation of the future research programme and the allocation of resources. Detailed discussions will now be held between the sponsors to establish how the recommendations are to be implemented.
On this occasion I am making arrangements for the report to be published and copies are being placed in the Library of the House. Copies will be made available for information to all those organisations and individuals who submitted material to the board in the course of its deliberations and those who have been involved in the consultations with the agriculture departments on industry funding of research and development. Additional copies will be available from the Ministry's Publications Unit at Alnwick shortly.