§ Mr. Blenkinsopasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how the science budget for 1978–79 will be divided between the recipient bodies; and what their future planning guidelines will be.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsSubject to Parliamentary approval I intend to allocate £254.3 million—at 1977 prices—to the recipient bodies for 1978–79. I have accepted the advice of the ABRC that this should be divided as follows:
£m Agricultural Research Council 21.7 Medical Research Council 43.7 Natural Environment Research Council 28.6 Science Research Council 139.2 Social Science Research Council 14.6 British Museum (Natural History) 4.2 Royal Society 2.2 Total (rounded) 254.3 I have also accepted the Board's advice that the growth guidelines for planning by the recipient bodies up to 1981–82 should be:
% p.a. Agricultural Research Council + 1.9 Medical Research Council + 1.6 Natural Environment Research Council + 2.5 Science Research Council -1.7 Social Science Research Council + 1.0 British Museum (Natural History) +0.5 Royal Society + 1.0 The Board's advice on the guidelines followed its 1977 Forward Look and was based on the projections for the science budget in Cmnd 6721. The Board will be using the new higher projections recently announced in Cmnd 7049 as the basis for its 1978 review.