§ Dr. HarrisTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 4 February 2000,Official Report, column 754W, on how many occasions since May 1997 he has notified research contractors in writing that their project has been identified as being sensitive as provided for in clause 15.3 of his Department's standard research contract, indicating the subject in each case. [111652]
§ Ms QuinNo central records of the use of such notifications are kept. However, given the nature of most of the Department's research, the numbers will have been very small. The standard contract does not give the Department powers to prevent public statements by contractors unless such a statement would jeopardise the commercial exploitation of intellectual property. As is made clear in clause 15.5, the purpose of clause 15.3 is to ensure that the Minister has prior knowledge of a statement being made on a potentially sensitive matter relating to research which he is funding.
Extract from Standard MAFF Research Contract15. Publication and disclosure15.1 Subject to the provisions of conditions 15.3, 15.4 and 15.6, the Contractor shall endeavour to make information about, and results from the Project generally available, and may do so provided he acknowledges in any public statement the financial support of the Minister and of the Co-funders.15.2 Subject to condition, 6.5, the Minister shall have the right to disclose, copy or otherwise distribute to the public or use in any way any information arising out of the Project or comprised in any work relating to the Project, as he sees fit.15.3 Where the Project, or any matter related to it, has been identified as being sensitive by:15.3.1 the Contractor or the Co-funders, or15.3.2 the Minister, as notified in writing to the Contractor or the Co-funders, the contractor or the Co-funders shall give written notice to be received by the Minister at least 10 working days before any planned public statement or other disclosure relating to the Project, providing details of the information proposed to be disclosed, the reason, and the medium of disclosure.15W15.4 The Contractor or Co-funders shall notify the Minster immediately if approached by the media about the Project. The Contractor or Co-funders shall notify the Minister immediately if approached by anyone about a matter related to the Project which is considered sensitive by the Contractor or Co-funders in accordance with condition 15.3.15.5 For the avoidance of doubt, the notifications required by conditions 15.3 and 15.4 are for the purposes of informing the Minister or the Contractor or Co-funders (as the case may be) and are not designed to interfere with the issue of any public statement.15.6 Where the carrying out of the Project results in, or materially contributes to the creation of Intellectual Property which the Contractor or the Minister considers may be suitable for commercial exploitation, no disclosure of information may be made by the Contractor or the Co-funders which would jeopardise such exploitation.