§ Dr. MoonieTo ask the Prime Minister what proportion of the LINK scheme budget is being transferred from the Department of Trade and Industry to the Office of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
§ The Prime MinisterLINK is an interdepartmental mechanism for promoting collaborative, precompetitive research involving industry and the science base. As such there is no distinct LINK scheme budget. The Department of Trade and Industry, like other participating Departments, uses money from its overall research and development budget to support LINK programmes and projects where these provide a way of meeting its departmental objectives. The Department's financial commitment to LINK will continue to be substantial and is unaffected by the transfer of responsibility for the LINK steering group and its secretariat to the Office of Science and Technology.