§ Mr. Merchantasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if his Department will provide funds to Frenchay hospital in Bristol to accelerate the development of the techniques being developed there to replace the use of animals for practising microsurgical techniques.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Department's responsibilities for the support of publicly funded biomedical research are discharged by the Medical Research Council (MRC), which receives an annual grant-in-aid from the science budget, and by the universities, which receive block grants for teaching and research allocated on the advice of the Unversity Grants Committee. It is for the MRC and the universities to decide their respective scientific priorities134W within the resources allocated to them; this includes decisions on whether to give additional support to work already being supported by other bodies.