§ Mr. DykesTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will examine methods of amending the Companies Acts to require the inclusion of research and development expenditures by United Kingdom companies in their published accounts, with particular relevance to the revelation of competitive advantages or otherwise.
§ Mr. RedwoodReaders of accounts of public and large private companies already benefit from the disclosure of expenditure on research and development which is now required by "Statement of Standard Accounting Practice 13" as revised. This new requirement took effect only for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 1989, and I see no present need to provide for additional disclosure under the Companies Act.
§ Mr. DykesTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will give full details of the United Kingdom's participation in the EC European strategic programme for research and development in information technology—ESPRIT—and Rapid Action for Conductive Education —RACE—research programmes with particular relevance to the complementarity of official United Kingdom non-EC programmes in similar fields sponsored by his Department.
§ Mr. LeighUnited Kingdom organisations are participating in over 70 per cent. of projects under the ESPRIT II programme and in 83 per cent. of projects under the RACE programme. The United Kingdom leads in 21 per cent. of projects under ESPRIT II and in 26 per cent. of projects under RACE. United Kingdom organisations have succeeded in securing nearly 18 per cent. of the available funds under ESPRIT II and nearly 20 per cent. of the funds under RACE.
The Government actively seek complementarity as far as possible between Community and national research programmes. National programmes help to strengthen the United Kingdom's technology base and hence encourage more effective United Kingdom participation in Community research and development programmes. European Community programmes are often particularly appropriate for funding research towards common standards, for example, open systems for information technology and communications.
§ Mr. DykesTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will give the latest available figures for the amounts received by United Kingdom companies from EC collaborative research and development programmes and38W the amounts contributed by his Department to this same chapter of the Community general budget in the same period.
§ Mr. LeighUnited Kingdom organisations are very successful in bidding for Community research and development funding. They secure approximately 20 per cent. of the overall funds available under the Community's research and development framework programme. This is broadly comparable to the indicative United Kingdom contribution to the research and development chapter of the EC budget.
The indicative United Kingdom contribution to the research and development chapter of the 1991 EC Budget is estimated to be some £195 million of which approximately 50 per cent.—some £98 million—relates to research and development for the industrial programmes.