Agricultural Colleges (Hansard, 1 December 1988)

§ Mr. Rifkind

The Government's policy towards the funding of agricultural R and D and advisory services and changes affecting further and higher agricultural education will have important implications for the future of the Scottish agricultural colleges. It is against this background that the chairman of Scottish Agricultural Colleges Ltd. and I have decided to establish a committee of inquiry, under the chairmanship of Sir Alwyn Williams, with the following terms of referenceTo consider the present and future requirement in Scotland for an agricultural advisory service, both general and specialist, which is publicly funded; for agricultural education, particularly those levels currently provided by the Scottish Agricultural Colleges; and for research and development, particularly in respect of these two functions, within the United Kingdom research base. To make recommendations to the Secretary of State and the Chairman of Scottish Agricultural Colleges Ltd.: having regard in particular to the present functions, scope and facilities of Scottish Agricultural Colleges as they have been recently developed and are presently organised, and to whether any changes should be made to their present responsibilities and to the relationships with the associated universities, local authority agricultural colleges, agricultural and other research institutes and other public bodies; taking into account the relationships with Scottish Office Departments and the Government's developing policies on the relevant functions.