§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his Department's letter of 12 September 1995, what progress has been reported to Her Majesty's Government by the United Kingdom systematics forum, on its identification of priorities for systematic biological research. [8411]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorThe United Kingdom systematics forum published its "Review of 1994–95" on 6 October 1995 and produced a preliminary report, "Priorities in Systematic Research and Training" in September last year.
I am pleased to be able to announce today that the Office of Science and Technology will be providing a further three years' funding to the systematics forum from 1 April this year, amounting to a total of £86,000. Since it was established in 1994, the forum has done much to foster closer communications within the community it serves, This new commitment will enable it to focus on devising a national strategy on priorities for systematics research.
OST will explore integration of the forum into an existing learned society during this new funding period so that the links built within the systematics community are maintained.