§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what is the total projected Government expenditure for 1985 for research into (a) contraceptive, (b) abortion and (c) sterilisation techniques;
(2) what has been the total Government expenditure on research into (a) contraceptive, (b) abortion and (c) sterilisation techniques in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Medical Research Council, which receives its grant-in-aid through the Department, is the main Government agency for the promotion of medical research in the United Kingdom. The council's total expenditure on research projects which have areas of relevance to contraceptive, abortion and sterilisation techniques in each of the past four years is as follows:
£ 1980–81 979,320 1981–82 1,103,992 1982–83 1,279,409 1983–84 1,529,178 The figures include the total cost of each project that involves work in the areas concerned, not only that part of each project which is directly relevant to the techniques.
I understand that the council does not have comparable figures for the years prior to 1980–81, neither can it produce an estimate of its expenditure in this field in 1985–86. The latter will depend on the research grant applications received by the council and on its decisions about whether to support them. The council is always ready to consider soundly based proposals for new research.
Research work relevant to these techniques is also carried out in universities and medical schools, financed from the block grant to universities allocated for teaching 602W and research on advice from the University Grants Committee and from other sources. Details are not available.