§ Dr. Kim HowellsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what funds the Government intend to allocate for the United Kingdom's participation in the WCRP's global energy and water cycles experiment to place a lidar on one of the polar platform satellites in the late 1990's.
Mr. JacksonMy right hon. Friend has requested the ABRC's advice on what further allocation is appropriate for earth observation instruments, particularly on polar platforms, in addition to the minimum £6 million recently announced for an instrument associated with the proposed earth remote sensing satellite (ERS2). His decisions after receving that advice will be announced in due course. It will be for the research councils to decide, within the overall totals allocated, their priorities for specific research areas.
§ Dr. Kim HowellsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what funds the Government are making available in 1990–91 to ensure the maintenance in the United Kingdom of an independent national research programme into global climate changes.
Mr. JacksonMy right hon. Friend has requested the ABRC's advice on the allocation of the science budget for 1990–91. His decisions after receiving that advice will be announced in due course. It will be for the research councils to decide, within the overall totals allocated, their priorities for specific research areas. Global climate change is necessarily a problem on an international scale, and the strength of United Kingdom research enables our scientists to make key contributions to important international collaborative programmes.