§ Viscount Montgomery of Alameinasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are their plans for Torry Research Station.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)Torry Research Station is one of the world's leading research institutes in the834WA area of fish safety, hygiene and quality. It carries out a programme costing over £2 million per annum in support of government policies for food safety and quality. In accordance with the high priority which the Government attach to these policies, this work, which includes important underpinning research, is to continue.
In addition, there is work at Torry Research Station which is mainly concerned with product and process development. We have consulted the fishing and related industries about their readiness to fund near market work in these areas. However the industries have shown very little readiness to fund such work. Accordingly we are now setting in train the necessary steps to concentrate the research at Torry on those areas of work which are required in support of our policies for food safety and quality. This will mean stopping about one-third of Torry's current programme. About 30 posts at the laboratory will be lost, although we will endeavour to keep the number of compulsory redundancies to a minimum.
Naturally, if between now and the completion of this exercise any new industry funding is forthcoming, we shall be ready to try to retain the necessary expertise and facilities in order to meet the proposed research contracts. In any event, I expect Torry Research Station to continue to attract significant outside funding for analytical services and consultancies, as it has done in recent years.