§ Mr. SpringTo ask the President of the Board of trade what progress has been made on the restructuring programme on the British Antarctic Survey, with particular reference to the proposed transfer of the Faraday research station in Antarctica to the Government of Ukraine; and if he will make a statement. [36548]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorThe House was informed on 9 May 1993 that funds to the order of £4 million would be provided to the Natural Environment Research Council from the science budget for the three years up to 1995–96 for restructuring of the British Antarctic Survey's facilities in Antarctica. Work is progressing.
At the Rothera station, the first year of the construction programme on new accommodation and laboratory facilities has been completed. Work is expected to be finished by the end of the next austral summer. This will enable a greatly expanded inshore marine and terrestrial biology programme to be developed at Rothera. At Signy station, preparation of the site for construction has started. It is anticipated that work on new accommodation and laboratory facilities will be completed next season. In addition, automated equipment has been developed to record meteorological and sea ice conditions.
On completion, these projects will sustain the world-class research conducted by the survey and will provide enhanced opportunities for visiting scientists from our higher educational institutes and will facilitate international scientific collaboration.
Negotiations for the handover of the Faraday station to the Government of Ukraine announced to the House on 7 February have been successfully concluded. The terms of agreement to be signed on 20 July provide for the transfer of ownership of the Faraday research station to the Ukraine. It is proposed that the transfer will be concluded before 31 March 1996. The Ukrainian 1549W Government have agreed that Faraday will continue to be used for scientific research and that key scientific observations, shall be continued.
Under the terms of the agreement, the United Kingdom and the international community will continue to receive, free of charge, scientific data to complement existing long term datasets. The Ukraine has also agreed to ensure that its scientific, logistic and support services in the Antarctic are fully in accord with the provisions of the Antarctic treaty and its protocol on environmental protection.
The arrangement will avoid the expenditure that would otherwise have been incurred had the base been closed and deemed abandoned. Clean-up of abandoned former British bases in Antarctica continues. Four of these bases were designated as historic sites at the XIXth Antarctic treaty consultative meeting in May this year.