HC Deb 23 November 1988 vol 142 c3W
Mr. Harry Greenway

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has received the annual report of the Agricultural and Food Research Council for 1987–88; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

The annual report of the Agricultural and Food Research Council for 1987–88 has been submitted to me under the requirements of the Science and Technology Act 1965, and a copy was laid before the House on 16 November.

I was most interested to study the report and, in a year of managerial and organisational change for the council, I was particularly encouraged to note:

  1. i. the major advances in studying the control of genes and the behaviour and requirements of living plant and animal cells;
  2. ii. research that could eventually lead to the development of new vaccines to protect animals against several diseases at once;
  3. iii. the new developments that are emerging in the use of biological control systems against pests and the improvement of nitrogen usage;
  4. iv. the novel findings that could indicate improved ways of improving food quality and stability.