§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many research agreements or contracts have been agreed by(a) the royal aircraft establishment, (b) the atomic weapons research establishment, (c) the royal signals and radar establishment, (d) the aeroplane and armament experimental aircraft establishment, (e) the royal armament research development establishment, (f) the Admiralty research establishment, (g) the chemical defence establishment and (h) the Royal Ordnance factories with universities and other institutions of higher education (i) within and (ii) outside the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. AitkenIn April 1991 RAE, RSRE, RARDE and ARE were amalgamated to form the Defence Research Agency (DRA). The DRA currently sponsors 690 research agreements and contracts within the United Kingdom and two overseas.
The atomic weapons establishment currently sponsors 29 research agreements and contracts within the United Kingdom and one overseas.
The aeroplane and armament evaluation establishment, now part of directorate general of test and evaluation, does not currently sponsor any research agreement or contracts.
The chemical and biological defence establishment currently sponsors 66 research agreements and contracts within the United Kingdom and none overseas.
Following their sale on 2 April 1987, the Royal Ordnance factories now are part of British Aerospace plc and I am therefore not in a position to provide the information that the hon. Member requests.
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many research projects in universities and other 299W institutions of higher education have been funded under the joint research council-Ministry of Defence research grants scheme in each year since the inception of the scheme.
§ Mr. AitkenA total of 552 research projects have been funded under the joint Research Council/MOD research grants scheme since the inception of the scheme in 1986. The annual breakdown is as follows:
Year Number of projects started 1 April 1986 to 31 March 1987 64 1 April 1987 to 31 March 1988 42 1 April 1988 to 31 March 1989 76 1 April 1989 to 31 March 1990 143 1 April 1990 to 31 March 1991 122 1 April 1991 to 31 March 1992 53 1 April 1992 to 15 January 1993 52
§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list his Department's research contracts currently placed with United Kingdom universities and other institutions of higher education.
§ Mr. AitkenIt has been the consistent policy of my Department not to release details of individual research contracts at universities and other institutions of higher education, but to leave it to the institutions themselves to confirm their involvement.