§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what sum was spent by her Department on research in each of the last 10 years; what percentage this was of the total annual budget; what is the research budget for the forthcoming year; what percentage this is of her total budget; and what additional new research is to be undertaken.
§ Mr. ForthThe sums spent on research and development by the Department for the last 10 years were reported in the statistical supplement to the 1994 "Forward Look" of Government-funded science engineering and technology. The expenditure on research and development and the percentage that this expenditure was of total Departmental expenditure are as follows:
R&D Expenditure Percentage of total expenditure £ million 1985–86 70.7 2.9 1986–87 68.9 2.7 1987–88 105.4 3.7 1988–89 73.4 2.1 1989–90 75.1 1.5 1990–91 87.8 1.6 1991–92 53.0 0.8 1992–93 43.4 0.6 1993–94 22.3 0.2 1994–95 123.1 0.2 1 Provisional The R and D figures do not include research carried out or funded by the Department's funding agencies.
Total departmental expenditure covers central Government expenditure and grants to local authorities within the Department of Education's programme.
The expenditure on research and development in the coming year has still to be determined, and will be reported in the statistical supplement to the 1995 "Forward Look".