§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how long elapsed between his announcement in January of cuts in Government funding of agricultural and food research in 1986 and the initiation of discussions with the industry on ways and means of making good those cuts; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. FennerFollowing the announcement on 22 January, Agriculture Ministers sought the advice of the Priorities Board on the most appropriate arrangements for securing the greater involvement of the industry in the future funding of research and in determining the programme of work which is undertaken. In the light of the board's advice, there were preliminary contacts with representatives of the industry during April and May; detailed sectoral consultations began in June.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to confirm the areas of his Department's research to be cut; and how long he intends to provide for discussions between the Agriculture and Food Reseach Council and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food over how the finally agreed cuts are to be managed, including the issue of redundancy notices.
§ Mrs. FennerI will be taking decisions on the future allocation of resources for research and development when I have the advice of the Priorities Board. There is already close contact between my Department and the Agricultural and Food Research Council on the management of the commissioned research programme. The discussions on the revised programme will form part of those exchanges. The management of the process of change within the AFRC is a matter for the council.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make it his policy not to implement planned reductions in expenditure on agricultural research and development until the industry has raised the necessary funds to safeguard such aspects of this work as it wishes to continue; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mrs. FennerIn order to allow time for consultations on the scope for industry funding no changes have been made in the level of publicly funded research and development in the current year. Those consultations are now under way and I would not wish to prejudge their outcome.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the priorities board first met to discuss reductions in Government funding of agricultural and food research; how many meetings of the board have been held; and on what previous occasions a similar independent review of all agricultural and food research work took place.
§ Mrs. FennerThe Priorities Board was first asked to advise on the application of reductions to Government funding of agricultural and food research in January this year and has since held four further meetings. It has met on a total of 10 occasions since its establishment in 1984, and will meet again on 28 June.
The last occasion on which an independent review of inter-sector priorities was undertaken was in the course of work carried out by the Joint Consultative Organisation for research and development in agriculture and food early in 1984.