§ Dr. StrangTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what funds, in cash and constant prices, were allocated to the Scottish Department of Agriculture, research and development budgets for each year since 1978; what is the projected spending for 1993–94 and 1994–95; and what proportion of the departmental budget for research and development is accounted for by(a) the Central Science Laboratory, (b) the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, (c) the Central Veterinary Laboratory and (d) ADAS.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 8 June 1993]: Successive volumes of the Cabinet Office "Annual Review of Government Funded Research and Development" contain information on outturn and planned expenditure by the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department on agriculture and fisheries research and development from 1977–78 onwards. Relevant figures extracted from the review are shown in the table. It should be noted that, for 1981–82 and later years, the figures are presented on a full economic cost basis.
Cash £million Constant price1 £ million 1977–78 18.2 55.3 1978–79 20.8 57.0 1979–80 23.6 55.4 1980–81 29.1 57.8 1981–82 36.2 65.5 1982–83 38.1 64.4 1983–84 41.3 66.7 1984–85 43.6 67.0 1985–86 44.6 65.0 1986–87 42.5 60.0 1987–88 41.2 55.2 1988–89 44.8 55.9 1989–90 47.3 55.4 1990–91 49.6 54.7 1991–92 51.7 53.5 1992–93 51.7 51.7 1993–94 54.1 n.a. 1994–95 55.5 n.a. At constant 1992–93 prices using the GDP deflator. The Central Veterinary Laboratory currently holds a subcontract—value £7,800—for one of the Department's commissioned agricultural research and development projects.
§ Dr. StrangTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people were employed, for each year since 1978, directly by the Scottish Department of Agriculture on research and development programmes related to agriculture, fisheries and food; and how many people were employed, for each year since 1978, on Scottish Department of Agriculture research and development programmes commissioned from outside.
§ Sir Hector Monro[holding answer 8 June 1993]: It is not possible to answer the first part of the question directly because the amount of time spent by relevant Scottish Office staff on research and development (R and D) programmes in the areas in question varies from time to time and from individual to individual.
286WHowever, for the period since 1981 the total staff numbers at the Department's Fisheries Research Services (FRS), at which the most substantial relevant R and D effort is carried out, have been as follows:
Number 1981 248.5 1982 252.0 1983 256.0 1984 259.0 1985 257.5 1986 252.5 1987 254.5 1988 252.5 1989 255.0 1990 256.0 1991 252.0 1992 254.5 1993 256.0 (Figures for earlier years cannot be readily extracted).
Less than 10 per cent. of the overall effort of the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA)—whose staff are also directly employed by the Department—are on R and D and no members of staff are exclusively engaged on it.
Most of the non-R and D activities at FRS and SASA consist of monitoring, and the provision of scientific and technological advice and information to Government and other bodies.
Almost all of the Department's programme of agricultural and related R and D is carried out at the Scottish agricultural research institutes (SARIs), the Scottish agricultural college (SAC), and the royal botanic garden, Edinburgh (RBGE) which employ their own staff. Total staff numbers in the SARIs for the period from 1978 are as follows:
Number 1978 1,397 1979 1,376 1980 1,345 1981 1,331 1982 1,338 1983 1,323 1984 1,328 1985 1,299 1986 1,390 1987 1,275 1988 1,176 1989 1,100 1990 1,179 1991 1,231 1992 1,270 1993 1,275 The number of SAC and RBGE staff wholly or partly engaged in research and development for the years 1989 to 1993 is as follows:
Year SAC RBGE 1989 301 46 1990 299 47 1991 270 48 1992 272 46.5 1993 270 47 Information on earlier years is not held centrally.