§ Dr. SpinkTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about the forthcoming prior options reviews for the Natural Environment Research Council. [7150]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorThe Government announced on 29 September 1995 that all public sector research establishments would be subject to prior options reviews.
860WPrior options reviews of the Natural Environment Research Council's—NERC—Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences—CCMS—the British Geological Survey and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology—CEH—will be carried out in the first half of 1996.
CCMS with its headquarters at Plymouth has the following component laboratories: the Dunstaffnage marine laboratory; the Plymouth marine laboratory; the Proudman oceanographic laboratory. CEH with its headquarters at Wallingford has the following component institutes: the Institute of Freshwater Ecology; the Institute of Hydrology; the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology and the Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology.
The reviews will build on any relevant recent studies.
I should welcome comments from interested parties. Comments relating to CCMS should be sent by the end of January 1996; and those relating to BGS and CEH by the end of February 1996. They should be sent to:
Dr. David Lynn, Policy and Communications Division, Natural Environment Research Council, Polaris house, North Star avenue, Swindon, SN2 1EU.