HC Deb 03 February 1999 vol 324 c624W
Mr. Miller

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the arrangements by which the Director General of Research Councils will avoid conflicts of interest while on secondment from Hewlett-Packard. [69352]

Mr. Byers

The DGRC, Dr. John Taylor, will continue to be paid by Hewlett-Packard while on secondment from Hewlett-Packard to the DTI. For the duration of this appointment, the DTI will reimburse Hewlett-Packard at a rate within the relevant Senior Civil Service pay band for his post.

In addition, Dr. Taylor will stand aside from discussions or decisions having any specific effect on Hewlett-Packard for the duration of his appointment. In practice, since the Department is not involved in decisions on individual science projects in accordance with the Haldane principle, and since Research Councils funding goes to universities and scientific institutes rather than firms, no material difficulties are foreseen.

Should, unusually, funding be granted directly from the Research Councils to Hewlett-Packard, I will report this to Parliament and give details of the circumstances.