§ Mr. Greg Knightasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) by what means he intends to monitor the use to which the recent grant of £500,000 made by his Department to the Centre for Applied Microbiology is put; and if he will make a statement;
(2) for what purpose and upon what conditions a grant of £500,000 has been made by his Department to the Centre for Applied Microbiology; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerThe grant to which my hon. Friend refers is towards the cost of establishing a national collection of animal cell cultures. Such cell cultures are increasingly used in biotechnology and the collection will be an important part of the infrastructure for biotechnology, which it is the Government's policy to support. Payment of the grant is subject to conditions negotiated with the Public Health Laboratory Service. In monitoring the use of the money officials of my Department will be concerned to ensure that the collection is widely used by industry and the academic world and that as much as possible of its cost is recovered from charges.