§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's 455W Government's policy on investment in new developments at CERN.
Mr. Robert G. HughesThe Government have consistently expressed their support in principle for the next major development planned at CERN, the large hadron collider project. It is widely acknowledged to be the right next step for the organisation and more generally for particle physics at the high-energy frontier. However, the LHC, like many other major international scientific initiatives, will be very expensive. Before giving final approval, therefore, it is essential that the project is based on a fair and sustainable financial framework. This will ensure that the investment made in the project gives the best possible value for money, both scientifically and economically. It is only by ensuring that major international collaborative facilities such as CERN are tightly managed that we will be able to afford the domestic science programmes which will exploit those facilities fully.