§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the bursaries which have been allocated to the Agricultural and Food Research Council in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Agricultural and Food Research Council receives about half its funds by way of grant-in-aid from the Department and half by way of payment from the Agriculture Departments for commissioned research. The council does not receive bursaries from either source, or from any other.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many redundancies and institute closures have arisen within the Agricultural and Food Research Council in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. BrookeThe numbers of compulsory redundancies since 1979 are as follows:
449W
Financial Years Total 1979–80 0 1980–81 0 1981–82 0 1982–83 4 1983–84 34
Financial Years Total 1984–85 *91 *129 * Estimated The total number of voluntary premature retirements (including voluntary redundancies) during the same period is estimated to be 333.
One institute, the Letcombe laboratory, is due to be closed on 31 March 1985; though as from 1 April 1985 the National Institute for Research in Dairying will become the Food Research Institute, Reading, and the Grassland Research Institute, Maidenhead, will be reconstituted as the Animal and Grassland Research Institute (including elements of NIRD's existing work.)
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what will be the budget of the Agricultural and Food Research Council during the next three years.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Agricultural and Food Research Council's grant-in-aid for 1985–86 from the Department, as already announced by my right hon. Friend on 10 January 1985, at column 526, is £50.3 million, including £4.8 million for restructuring. The Advisory Board for the Research Councils has provisionally recommended that the council should receive £49.7 million in 1986–87 (including £3 million for restructuring) and £47.5 million in 1987–88. Final advice on the 1986–87 allocation will be given by the ABRC in late 1985, and for 1987–88 a year later. The balance of the council's annual income is made up of payments for commissioned work, mainly from the Agriculture Departments; the amount of this balance thus depends on the amount of such work, as agreed between the council and the Agriculture Departments.