§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has received the annual report of the Medical Research Council for 1989–90; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthThe Medical Research Council has submitted to my right hon. and learned Friend its 1989–90 annual report under the requirements of the Science and Technology Act 1965, and we are placing a copy before the House today.
We were very interested to read of the good progress made in the year, and to learn about work in areas of current public concern such as AIDS research—where the council continues to work towards the development of effective vaccines and drugs to limit the progress of the disease. I was greatly encouraged that the council's income from contracts with industry has increased from £4–4 million in 1987–88 to £6.1 million in 1989–90, and that royalty income has more than doubled over the same period. I congratulate the MRC laboratory of molecular biology for winning, jointly with Cambridge Research Biochemicals, the Queen's award for technological achievement as a result of a successful collaboration on the generation of improved peptides.
419WI congratulate the council on these and other achievements and look forward to reading about further advances in next year's report.
1. United Kingdom bilateral aid to Caribbean countries in 1989 2. Bilateral aid per capita1 Total £'000s (of which CDC project aid expenditure) £ Anguilla 1,997 — 249.61 Antigua and Barbuda 757 — 9.01 Bahamas 30 — 0.12 Barbados 285 — 1.12 Belize 3,786 (1,472) 20.80 Bermuda 39 — 0.69 British Virgin Islands 4,448 (2,200) 317.73 Cayman Islands 1,305 (1,299) 62.14 Dominica 2,493 — 30.77 Dominican Republic 25 — . Grenada 1,352 — 13.25 Guadeloupe 0 — — Guyana 6,561 — 8.21 Haiti 0 — — Jamaica 20,304 (16,639) 8.36 Martinique 0 — — Montserrat 4,044 — 337.02 Netherlands Antilles 0 — — St. Kitts-Nevis 711 — 16.52 St. Lucia 8,872 (5,500) 61.19 St. Vincent 1,091 — 8.95 Trinidad and Tobago 640 (295) 0.52 Turks and Caicos Islands 5,240 — 748.51 1 1988 population figures used: 1989 not yet available.