§ Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will compensate the Science and Engineering Research Council for its additional expenditure overseas resulting from the falling value of the pound sterling; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BrookeI am aware of the difficulties which face the Science and Engineering Research Council in planning its expenditure in relation to its international commitments because of movements in the exchange rate, especially between sterling and the Swiss franc. However, I do not propose any change in SERC's cash limit on this account for the present year. Provision for future years will be determined in the light of advice by the Advisory Board for the Research Councils once the amount of the science budget has been determined in the public expenditure survey. In the meantime, officials are exploring the SERC, the nature of its problems and possible means of overcoming them as these arise from SERC's programme of international scientific collaboration.