§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Aviation Supply how many research contracts related to defence projects are let to universities through his Department.
§ Mr. David PriceThe Department has 522 current aerospace research agreements with universities. In general, the work being done under these agreements is of a basic research nature and has both civil and defence applications.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Aviation Supply what are the universities and departments concerned in research contracts related to defence projects sponsored by his Department; and what has been the annual value of such contracts in 1968, 1969, and 1970.
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§ Mr. David PriceThe Department has let research agreements to the following universities and colleges: —Aberdeen, Aston in Birmingham, Bath, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton College of Technology, Bristol, Brunel, Calgary, Cambridge, City, Cranfield Institute of Technology, Dundee, Durham, East Anglia, Edinburgh, Enfield College of Technology, Essex, Exeter, Glasgow, Hatfield Polytechnic, Hull, Keele, Kent, Kingston Polytechnic, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Loughborough, Manchester, National College of Rubber Technology, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Reading, Royal Military College of Science Shrivenham, Salford, Sheffield, Southampton, Strathclyde, Surrey, Sussex, St. Andrews, Wales. Warwick, York.
The university departments are those dealing with the following fields of research: acoustics, aerodynamics, aeronautics, astronautics, chemical engineering, chemistry, cybernetics, electrical engineering, electronics, ergonomics, mathematics, metallurgy, natural philosophy, physics. The work being done under these agreements is in general of a basic research nature and has both civil and defence applications. Annual expenditure in 1968, 1969 and 1970 was of the order of £1,000,000 a year.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Aviation Supply how many research contracts related to defence and sponsored by his Department are classified.
§ Mr. David PriceOn the assumption that the hon. Member is referring to agreements with universities, the answer is two at present. The Department has of course, some classified defence research contracts with industry.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Aviation Supply in how many cases are any of the university staff or attached researchers on research contracts relating to defence and sponsored by his Department required to have security clearance.
§ Mr. David PriceIn the case of one contract only certain security procedures apply under the Official Secrets Acts.