Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on his policy on the share of publicly funded research on the ozone layer and its depletion allocated respectively to the Science and Engineering Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council.
Mr. JacksonBasic research into the scientific issues arising from stratospheric ozone and its properties is conducted both by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Science and Engineering Research Council. It is for each of them to determine the level of resources to be allocated to this topic within their respective shares of the science budget and in the present financial year, the two councils each expect to spend about £700,000.
The seasonal depletion in ozone over Antarctica was first discovered by scientists at the British antarctic survey, a NERC establishment, and BAS based research continues to be a major component of the council's funding of work on this topic. The majority of the SERC expenditure is in respect of an improved atmospheric and mesospheric sounder instrument, costing about £7.5 million in total 215W over 10 years, which will fly on the NASA upper atmosphere research satellite due for launch in 1991. Both research councils also support other work at universities and polytechnics. There is cross representation on committees on the two councils to co-ordinate activities and to ensure that the field is adequately covered.