§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the French Government first publicly expressed a preference for the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory as the site for the diamond synchrotron. [116945]
§ Mr. ByersThe preference was first stated publicly in a letter from the French Minister of National Education, Research and Technology to my noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Science on 14 March 2000. They had made clear to him in private discussions in October 1999 that this was their view.