§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Industry, in the light of his assistance to the silicon chip industry, if he will use similar encouragement to assist the research and production of biotechnological products to ensure that the United Kingdom captures the lead in this rich field.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldAs I stated on 13 December in answer to a previous question by my hon. Friend—columns 243–4—support by my Department for research and development work in biotechnology is already being given favourable consideration. Should financial assistance be needed for work beyond the research and development stage, this can be provided under existing schemes. It should be appreciated, however, that much work is already going on in industrial companies on this subject.