Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he received the Advisory Board for the Research Councils' latest document on spending advice for 1990 and beyond; what has been his response to proposals to increase environmental research commitment; and what information he has on the environmental research commitment in(a) other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development states and (b) other EEC member states:
Mr. JacksonThe ABRC's advice "Science and Public Expenditure 1989" was submitted to my right hon. Friend on 12 May. That advice included proposals for environmental research expenditure which have been fully taken into account during the course of the public expenditure survey discussions. I cannot anticipate the outcome of those discussions.
Very little information is available on the environmen-tal research commitment of other countries. The OECD data bank of April 1988 gave the percentage distribution of Government direct appropriations to civil R & D in respect of the environment in 1987 or nearest year as follows:
Percentage Portugal 17.9 Australia 15.4 Spain 13.5 Greece 12.8 Canada 12.6 Finland 11.3 Germany 9.3 United Kingdom 8.0 Norway 7.1 Belgium 6.9 Netherlands 6.8 EEC 6.7 Sweden 5.3 United States 4.8 Switzerland 4.7 Denmark 4.2 Italy 3.9 France 3.4 Austria 2.7 Iceland 2.4 Ireland 2.0