§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has had calling for a new independent engineering research and development council outside the Science and Engineering Research Council; from whom; and if he has considered such a proposal.
§ Mr. William SheltonI have received no such representations.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much has been allocated to the Science and Engineering Research Council for each of the last five years at constant prices for(a) engineering board and research projects and(b) engineering studentships; and what percentage of the council's budget this represents in each case.
§ Mr. William SheltonThe Science and Engineering Research Council has discretion to allocate the grant-in-aid that it receives from my department between its various activities, according to its own priorities. During the last 421W five financial years the council has spent the following sums—at constant October 1980 prices—on engineering-related work:
Top lines £m, bottom lines percentages of Councils Budget 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 Engineering Research 29.5 20.7 22.4 28.9 30.9 9.5% 10.4% 10.5% 13.7% 15.4% Engineering Studentships 7.5 8.9 9.3 9.1 9.6 3.5% 4.5% 4.4% 4.3% 4.8% Engineering (Total) 28.0 29.7 31.7 38.0 40.6 13.0% 14.9% 14.9% 18.0% 20.2%