§ Sir David Priceasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish in the Official Report the annual expenditure by each of the research councils, expressed both in real and current terms, for each year since 1978–79; and what is the projected expenditure on a similar basis for the next three years.
§ Mr. BrookeThe following tables show the information requested. The cash terms figures (table 1) represent actual expenditures for the years up to 1983–84,
Table 1—Research Councils' Annual Expenditure—Cash Terms—£ million Research Council 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 Agricultural and Food Research Council 26.3 29.5 37.5 42.1 43.6 46.0 46.5 50.3 49.7 47.5 Economic and Social Research Council 15.8 16.8 20.3 20.7 20.9 22.4 22.0 23.6 23.5 23.9 Medical Research Council 47.1 57.3 72.7 *101.7 107.5 113.7 117.2 122.3 125.0 128.3 Natural Environment Research Council 32.1 36.6 46.7 54.3 58.0 62.5 65.9 67.3 67.7 69.1 Science and Engineering Research Council 153.3 175.6 204.0 216.8 234.4 254.5 278.8 298.0 305.0 311.6 * The large increase in MRC's expenditure in 1981–82 was due to the transfer of commissioning money from the Health Departments to the grant-in-aid.
Table 2—Research Councils' Annual Expenditure—Cost Terms—£ million Research Council 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 Agricultural and Food Research Council 44.7 42.9 45.9 46.9 45.5 46.0 44.4 45.9 43.7 40.4 Economic and Social Research Council 26.8 24.4 24.9 23.1 21.8 22.4 21.0 21.6 20.6 20.3 Medical Research Council 80.0 83.2 89.0 †113.3 112.2 113.7 111.9 111.7 109.8 109.2 Natural Environment Research Council 54.5 53.2 57.2 60.5 60.6 62.5 62.9 61.5 59.5 58.8 Science and Engineering Research Council 260.3 255.1 249.8 241.4 244.7 254.5 266.2 272.2 267.9 265.1 † See footnote to Table 1.