Research and Development (Hansard, 11 June 1979)

§ Mrs. Renée Short
asked the Secretary of State for Industry if he intends cutting back on his £132 million research and development programme this year; and, if so, what is his estimate of the number of people who will be unemployed as a result.

§ Mr. Michael Marshall
My right hon. Friend has so far made no decision on the level of expenditure on research and development in the Department of Industry.

§ Mrs. Renée Short
asked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the current expenditure on industrial research and development; how this compares in real terms with that being spent in 1969; and 72W if he will give the comparative figures for France, West Germany, Japan, the United States of America, Italy, Sweden and Canada.

§ Mr. David Mitchell
The most recent figures for industrial research and development expenditure relate to 1975. The following table shows the expenditure in that year with the figure for 1969 expressed as an index 1975=100.

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON OF INDUSTRIAL INTRAMURAL EXPENDITURE ON R & D^* 1969 AND 1975 AT 1975 PRICES

Index 1975=100 1975 Total $million†

1969 1975

United Kingdom 112.9 100.0 2,914 (£1,340 million)

France 89.3 100.0 3,645

Federal German Republic 78.3 100.0 5,874

Japan 77.8 100.0 5,637

United States 111.6 100.0 23,540

Italy 82.5 100.0 996

Sweden 62.3 100.0 834

Canada 94.4 100.0 704

Source: All countries other than United Kingdom—OECD.

^* Expenditure by all industrial organisations—including public corporations and research associations.

† Converted from national currencies by using official exchange rates. These rates do not always reflect the real relationship between research costs in different countries and these dollar totals should be considered merely as indicators of orders of magnitude.

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON OF INDUSTRIAL INTRAMURAL EXPENDITURE ON R & D^* 1969 AND 1975 AT 1975 PRICES
	Index 1975=100	1975 Total $million†
	1969	1975
United Kingdom	112.9	100.0	2,914 (£1,340 million)
France	89.3	100.0	3,645
Federal German Republic	78.3	100.0	5,874
Japan	77.8	100.0	5,637
United States	111.6	100.0	23,540
Italy	82.5	100.0	996
Sweden	62.3	100.0	834
Canada	94.4	100.0	704
Source: All countries other than United Kingdom—OECD.
^* Expenditure by all industrial organisations—including public corporations and research associations.
† Converted from national currencies by using official exchange rates. These rates do not always reflect the real relationship between research costs in different countries and these dollar totals should be considered merely as indicators of orders of magnitude.