§ 32. Mr. DoranTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a further statement on his Department's support for research for the benefit of food-related industries.
§ Mr. CurryMy Department commissions research amounting to £16.8 million to support statutory obligations, policy development, the protection of consumers and work specifically directed to the improvement of competitiveness in the food industry. Support for work of direct commercial benefit to the industry will be phased out by the end of 1990–91 as a part of the Government's policy on near market research. This will not affect our commitment to food safety and other work on wider public benefit.
A recent joint MAFF/DTI initiative on food processing sciences was announced in September 1988 as part of the LINK Scheme. £7 million has been allocated by MAFF and by DTI over a five-year period provided that this sum is matched by industrial contributions. This programme will concentrate on projects which will strengthen the industry's technical base in bioscience and encourage strategic developments in new processes, biotechnology and processing modelling and control.