HC Deb 15 February 1994 vol 237 cc685-7W
Mr. Kilfoyle

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster who are the members currently appointed to the Link steering group.

Mr. Waldegrave

The current membership of the Link steering group is as follows:

  • Dr. J. Parnaby—Chairman
  • Professor W. D. P. Steward FRS FRSE
  • Dr. R. C. Whelan
  • Dr. G. Robinson
  • Professor T. L. Blundell FRS
  • Dr. Peter Bunyan
  • Dr. G. Pope FEng
  • Professor J. S. Mason
  • Sir John Cadogan CBE FRS

Dr. Wright

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, for each of the non-departmental bodies sponsored by his Department, whether the public has a statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings and to inspect(a) minutes of meetings, (b) the annual reports and (c) the annual accounts.

Mr. Waldegrave

The non-departmental public bodies sponsored by the Cabinet Office, the Office of Public Service and Science and the other Departments for which I am responsible are:

Executive Bodies

  • Agriculture and Food Research Council
  • Economic and Social Research Council
  • Medical Research Council
  • Natural Environment Research Council
  • Science and Engineering Research Council

Advisory Bodies

  • Advisory Committee on Advertising
  • Advisory Committee on Business Appointments
  • Advisory Committee on Human Genome Research
  • Council for Science and Technology
  • Citizen's Charter Panel of Advisers
  • Civil Service Appeal Board
  • Link Steering Group
  • Political Honours Scrutiny Committee
  • Security Commission

The public does not have a statutory right to attend meetings of any of these bodies, or to see minutes of meetings where they are produced.

There is a statutory requirement for research council annual reports and annual accounts to be laid before Parliament, under the provisions of schedule 1 of the Science and Technology Act 1965. They are published documents, and are freely available to the public.

The advisory bodies do not in general produce annual reports or accounts.

Exceptions are:

Council for Science and Technology Information generated by the council will normally be made openly available, as stated in the White Paper "Realising our Potential".

Citizens Charter Panel of Advisers The accounts of the panel of advisers are included in the accounts of the citizens charter unit, which are published in the OPSS annual report.

Civil Service Appeal Board The CSAB publishes an annual report and transcripts of hearings are available to appellants, their representatives and departments.

Link Steering Group The LSG produces reports but not on an annual basis. Its first report was published in February 1992.

Security Commission Reports of the commission are, so far as it is consistent with the requirements of national security, made public.

Dr. Wright

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will publish a table showing, in 1992–93 prices, the gross public spending for each year since 1990–91 and the projected expenditure for each year to 1995–96 for each executive non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department, as listed in "Public Bodies 1993".

Mr. Waldegrave

The executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department are the Agricultural and Food Research Council, AFRC, the Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC, the Medical Research Council, MRC, the Natural Environment Research Council, NERC and the Science and Engineering Research Council, SERC. With effect from 1 April the AFRC and the SERC will cease to exist and three new bodies will come into being, namely the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BBSRC, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC, and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, PPARC. The activities of the AFRC and SERC will be transferred to new and existing research councils.

Details of gross expenditure financed by grants in aid are as follows:

£ million at 1992–93 prices
11990–91 11991–92 11992–93 21993–94 31994–95
AFRC 98.5 100.6 105.4 107.5 —
BBSRC — — — — 160.7
EPSRC — — — 0.4 339.0
ESRC 40.4 40.0 45.9 51.5 56.0
MRC 205.0 210.7 227.7 257.0 250.7
NERC 149.3 127.3 129.7 135.6 144.7
PPARC — — — 0.2 172.2
SERC 489.4 473.9 523.0 564.6 —
1Source: Appropriation accounts, modified by appropriate GDP deflator.
2Source: Supply Estimates 1993–94, modified by appropriate GDP deflator.
3Source: Allocations of the Science Budget 1993–94 as announced to the House on 2 February 1994, modified by appropriate GDP deflator.

Allocations for 1995–96 to the research councils have not yet been announced.

Dr. Wright

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list those responsible for making appointments of(a) chairs and (b) members of the boards to each of the executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department.

Mr. Waldegrave

As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, I am responsible for the appointment of the chairmen and all members of the Economic and Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council and the Science and Engineering Research Council. I am also responsible for the appointment of the chairman and 14 of 20 members of the Agricultural and Food Research Council—AFRC. Of the remaining six members of the AFRC, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food appoints four and the Secretary of State for Scotland appoints two.