§ Mr. David MartinTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he will respond to the advice he has received from the Advisory Board for the Research Councils on the future structure of the research council system; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregor[pursuant to his reply, 19 January 1990, c. 434]: I wrote yesterday to Sir David Phillips, chairman of the Advisory Board for the Research Councils, giving the Government's response to the board's advice about improving co-ordination between the Agricultural and Food Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council.
The text of my letter is as follows:
Dear Sir David Future Structure of the Research Council SystemThank you for your letter of 1 December,which supplemented the advice in your letter of 15 November about the structure of the Research Council System.Your further letter asked for guidance on the suggestion that a small working group should be established under ABRC auspices to examine the practicalities of achieving a closer association of the AFRC and NERC, possibly leading to a merger of the AFRC and NERC as recommended by the House of Lords Select Committee. The purpose would be to achieve closer coordination of the research programmes of these Councils, in particular in terrestrial life sciences.We have considered this proposal in the light of the decision that ABRC should be reconstituted from 1 April, and have concluded that we would prefer the 'new' ABRC to take forward the question of improving cooperation between all the Councils, within the existing Research Council structure. The need for greater cooperation was a major factor in our decision to reconstitute the Board and give it a new remit, and we would now expect the 'new' Board to give urgent attention to carrying this into effect.288W
Scotland P NJ SJ Total Jobs (NJ and SJ) 1979 28 (15.3) 2,757 (19.3) n/a n/a 2,757 (19.3) 1980 31 (20.0) 4,474 (24.0) n/a n/a 4,474 (24.0) 1981 28 (21.0) 5,756 (35.1) n/a n/a 5,756 (35.1) 1982 28 (21.0) 2,258 (21.4) n/a n/a 2,258 (21.4) 1983 49 (20.8) 5,135 (33.0) 3,432 (22.5) 8,567 (27.8) 1984 74 (22.6) 8,761 (32.3) 1,463 (7.6) 10,224 (22.0) 1985 57 (15.2) 4,971 (19.4) 2,922 (15.6) 7,893 (17.8) 1986 36 (10.6) 1,881 (11.6) 607 (5.6) 2,488 (9.2)
As with our earlier exchange, I shall be placing copies of our letters before Parliament.Copies of this letter and of Sir David Phillips' letter of 1 December are being placed in the Library.