§ 67. Mr. Mulleyasked the Under-secretary of State for the Home Department by what amount it is proposed to reduce the expenditure of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research on grants to graduate scientists for training in research in the year 1951–52 as compared with 1950–51; the anticipated reduction in the number of these grants for the same period; and the grounds for this reduction in view of the general shortage of trained scientists in industry and in research institutions and the serious difficulties which arose in the last war on 96W account of the dearth of experienced scientific research workers.
§ Mr. de FreitasThere will be no reduction. In fact the estimates provide £246,000 compared with £230,000 for last year. This will allow for about 350 new awards in 1951, compared with the 374 in 1950. The sum provided in any one year has to cover not only new awards but also those continued from previous years. In answer to the last part of the Question, the present estimate of 350 awards in 1951 should be compared with the 80 or so new awards made annually in the years before the war.