§ Captain Pluggeasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is satisfied that adequate research work is at present being carried out by the Milk Marketing Board; and whether he can make a statement with regard to the circumstances under which important research work on problems affecting the manufacture of butter and cheese which were to be conducted at the National Institute of Research in Dairying at Reading has been held up for over 18 months owing to the refusal of the board to permit part of the grant authorised for this research to be expended for the provision of facilities of a capital nature without which permission the research cannot proceed?
§ Mr. W. S. MorrisonIn reply to the first part of the question, my hon. Friend will appreciate that expenditure by the Milk Marketing Board on research schemes is a matter entirely within the board's discretion. The board has, however, already spent a sum of £35,000 on research.
As regards the second part of the question, I am advised that the board's Research Committee, on which buyers as well as producers are represented, has adopted the principle of confining its aid to the maintenance costs of research schemes and has not been willing to aid expenditure of a capital nature.