§ Mr. Keyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the Government's response to the first report from the House of Commons Education, Science and Arts Committee, Session 1984–85 on the future of the science budget; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerI have written today to the Chairman of the Committee with the Government's response. It is being published as a White Paper (Cmnd. 9849).
It is important to maintain a healthy and vigorous science base, for the efficiency, competitiveness and innovative capacity of the national economy and for the wider well-being of the United Kingdom. My Department's expenditure on the science base—some £19 yearly for every citizen of the United Kingdom—is only part of the total resources that the nation —Government and the private sector—devotes to research and development. The science community and others who spend the taxpayer's money have a duty to address not only their particular allocation and use of resources and how to get best value for them, but also larger questions. These are: what resources the nation should devote to science; its balance between pure, strategic and applied research; and the choice and selective pursuit of priorities in the national interest. With my Department the University Grants Committee and the universities, the research councils, and the Advisory Board for the Research Councils are considering these matters, setting priorities, developing selectivity, and undertaking redeployment, rationalisation and concentration to ensure greater value for money. This activity must continue. The 518W private sector, where our investment nationally in civil R and D is lagging behind that of our competitors, must also recognise and play its proper part particularly in strategic and applied research and development, and in the identification of future exploitable areas of science. The Committee's report is a welcome stimulus and contribution to informed public discussion of these important matters.