Mr. William O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the oral statement by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 8 February,Official Report, column 681, at what stage in the process of scrutiny of public expenditure the expenditure of the Northern Ireland Office will be examined.
§ Mr. MatesThe process of scrutiny to which the Chief Secretary referred will cover the activities of range of Great Britain programmes which, in Northern Ireland, are covered by the regional block. While my right hon. and learned Friend has a measure of discretion in the allocation of resources within the block, territorial expenditure is also subject to Treasury scrutiny and the implications of the Great Britain reviews will be taken into account.
Government spend1 Private sector spend2 Science base3 Government spend/Private sector spend Private sector spend/Science base Government spend/GDP Private sector spend/GDP Cash £ million Real terms4 £ million Cash £ million Real terms4 £ million Cash £ million Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. 1981–82 639.6 1,067.9 77.6 129.6 923.4 69.3 8.4 0.25 0.03 1982–83 697.8 1,087.6 92.1 143.5 1,003.7 69.5 9.2 0.25 0.03 1983–84 730.0 1,087.4 112.1 167.0 1,054.2 69.2 10.6 0.24 0.04 1984–85 774.4 1,097.9 141.8 201.0 1,099.4 70.4 12.9 0.24 0.04 1985–86 839.7 1,128.9 177.9 239.2 1,180.0 71.2 15.1 0.23 0.05 1986–87 938.9 1,222.9 217.9 283.8 1,257.7 74.7 17.3 0.24 0.06 1987–88 1,055.9 1,303.6 257.1 317.4 1,353.2 78.0 19.0 0.25 0.06 1988–89 1,107.9 1,275.2 317.8 365.7 1,431.3 77.4 22.2 0.23 0.07 1989–90 1,149.6 1,241.4 392.4 423.7 1,544.4 74.4 25.4 0.22 0.08 1990–91 1,230.8 1,230.8 466.1 466.1 1,665.0 73.9 28.0 0.22 0.08 1 Figures derived from Cabinet Office "Government Spend on Research and Development" and include research funded in Universities by Government Departments and the Research Councils and the Universities Funding Council. The latter figure is an estimate by Universities Funding Council of universities' spend on research from their block grants and fee income, to an accuracy of plus or minus 10 per cent. N.B. The method of estimating research expenditure incurred by universities changed from 1989–90 onwards. 2 Figures taken from Universities Statistics—Volume 3 and include funding for research contracts from industry, charities, overseas and other sources. 3 Total spend on the Science Budget and the Universities Funding Council estimates of spend on research from universities' block grant and fee income. 41990–91 prices.
§ Mr. Temple-MorrisTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what was the proportion of research and development expenditure on fundamental science and technology as a percentage of gross domestic product for each year since 1981; and what is the Government's share of that expenditure for each given year;
(2) what was the proportion of research and development expenditure on fundamental science and technology as a percentage of gross domestic product in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) France and (c) Germany in each year since 1981.
Mr. JacksonInformation is not available in the terms requested. Government expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product on basic research, as defined by the