§ Mr. AmosTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has received the annual report of the natural environment research council for 1988–89; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe annual report of the natural environment research council has been submitted to me under the requirements of the Science and Technology Act 1965, and a copy is being laid before the House today.
The report highlights the council's achievements in a year in which public interest in environmental matters significantly increased. I was particularly interested to note: 656W
- (a) the start of the biological ocean flux study, a major programme involving scientists from both NERC and higher education institutions, contributing to international research on the carbon cycle in oceans;
- (b) the collaborative research on the North sea, and progress in developing models to help predict water quality and the future effects of man's activities;
- (c) the advances in research on the contribution of air pollutants to forest decline and the mechanisms involved;
- (d) the development of a predictive system of biological monitoring and river quality, now incorporated in a software package and being developed further with support from the water industry;
- (e) the start up of the NERC extractive industry partnership scheme.
I congratulate the council on these and its many other achievements and look forward to further progress in next year's report.