§ Mr. HanleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has received the annual report of the Agricultural and Food Research Council for 1989–90; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthThe annual report of the Agricultural and Food Research Council has been submitted to my right hon. and learned Friend under the requirements of the Science and Technology Act 1965, and a copy is being placed before the House today.
I was especially interested to read in the report about the success of Dr. Michael Berridge in winning the Albert Lasker medical research award for AFRC-sponsored work on molecular signalling; about the establishment of the AFRC centre for genome research at the university of Edinburgh; and about the work on anti-sense genes in fruit being funded at Nottingham university. I was pleased to read that the council has developed a £1.8 million research grants scheme to support younger research workers at an early stage of their career, and to learn of the council's success in attracting a total of £1.4 million from European Community funds for its work.
My right hon. and learned Friend and I congratulate the council on these and other achievements. We look forward to reading about further progress, under the council's new chairman, in next year's report.