§ Mr. Charles ClarkeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 31 March 1998,Official Report, column 505, what is the status of the assurance given by his Permanent Secretary that an employment guarantee would be provided for five years for CSL staff relocating from Norwich to York; and what contingent liability his Department has assumed is needed to fund this commitment. [37988]
§ Mr. RookerThe Permanent Secretary has not given such an assurance. However, in the event of relocation of the CSL Norwich to York, consideration would be given as to whether medium term assurances of continued employment should be offered to staff who transferred. The level of resulting contingent liabilities would be one of the factors considered before giving such assurances.
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many Central Science Laboratory(a) scientists and (b) non-scientists in Norwich are in (i) mobile and (ii) non-mobile grades. [37955]
§ Mr. Rooker[holding answer 6 April 1998]: The information requested on staff based at the Central Science Laboratory in Norwich is as follows:
Scientists Non-scientists Mobile 78 4 Non-mobile 31 24 Total staff 109 28
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many food research projects submitted to his Department for funding by the Central Science Laboratory in (1) 1996–97 and (2) 1997–98 which were (i) commissioned, (ii) deemed by the independent 233W appraisal panel to be of sufficient quality to merit departmental funding and (iii) not deemed to be of sufficient quality to merit such funding were based primarily at (a) Sand Hutton, York and (b) Colney Lane, Norwich. [37957]
Research proposals submitted to MAFF by CSL for funding Proposals for funding in 1996–97 (submitted to MAFF in 1995) Proposals for funding in 1997–98 (submitted to MAFF in 1996) Short-term research (applied) Long-term research (strategic) Short-term research (applied) Long-term research (strategic) Total number of CSL proposals considered 45 46 43 24 CSL Norwich 22 22 40 19 CSL Torry 22 23 3 3 CSL Slough 1 1 0 2 CSL York 0 0 0 0 Number of CSL proposals commissioned 15 14 12 10 CSL Norwich 13 11 12 8 CSL Torry 2 3 0 0 CSL Slough 0 0 0 0 CSL York 0 0 2 0 Number deemed by an independent Appraisal Panel to be suitable for MAFF funding n/a 25 n/a 23 CSL Norwich n/a 12 n/a 18 CSL Torry n/a 12 n/a 3 CSL Slough n/a 1 n/a 2 CSL York n/a 0 n/a 0 Number deemed by an independent Appraisal Panel to be unsuitable for MAFF funding n/a 12 n/a 1 CSL Norwich n/a 8 n/a 1 CSL Torry n/a 4 n/a 0 CSL Slough n/a 0 n/a 0 CSL York n/a 0 n/a 0 Notes:
1. Where n/a appears in the tables above, projects were appraised within MAFF with independent advice sought where necessary. These proposals were not considered by the independent Appraisal Panels. This is the case for all short term (applied) research proposals submitted to MAFF.
2. Proposals were not submitted from CSL York until 1997 (for funding in 1997–98), once staff had completed moves to CSL York from CSL Tony and CSL Slough.