§ Sir Cranley OnslowTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what projects are currently being funded from CARAD—the civil aviation research and technology programme. [15856]
§ Mr. Greg Knight[holding answer 18 February 1997]: I regret that the information requested cannot be provided. Some of the projects are supported jointly with the Ministry of Defence and are classified. Release could cause harm in terms of the defence, security and commercial confidence exemptions in the code of practice on access to government information, and would inform competitors about detailed areas of research supported, to the potentially serious detriment of the national research effort. The other projects are carried out by companies whose permission would be required to breach commercial confidentiality. This could be obtained for all projects only at disproportionate cost and would take considerable time. Some projects have been the subject of press publicity. Copies of press releases issued by the Department have been placed in the Library of the House and I have arranged for a copy of the latest CARAD annual report to be placed there.
§ Sir Cranley OnslowTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the total expenditure under the CARAD programme in each of the past five years. [15853]
598W
§ Mr. Knight[holding answer 18 February 1997]: Total expenditure under the CARAD programme in each of the five years financial years 1991–92 to 1995–96 is tabulated below.
£ million Financial year 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 Gross 25.6 26.4 23.2 23.9 24.7 Receipts1 -0.2 -0.1 -0.2 -0.5 -0.2 Nett 25.4 26.3 23.0 23.4 24.5 1 Residual levies on pre-CARAD projects, and VAT recoveries.