§ Mr. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each of the past five years the amount of expenditure by his Department on research and development, itemising by expenditure on nuclear, conventional and novel sources of electrical generation, conservation and other expenditure.
§ Mr. David HowellThe figures requested are given in the table below. The major part of R & D on nuclear energy is conducted by the UKAEA and is paid for from the nuclear energy Vote, overall responsibility for which lies with the Secretary of State for Energy.
187WThe data refer only to the Department's expenditure which is heavily concentrated in the nuclear and renewables fields. Total public sector spend on energy R & D including that of the nationalised coal, gas and electricity industries gives a more objective view of the scale of the programmes. This was £320 million in 1979–80, for example, of which about 41 per cent. was on non-nuclear technologies.