§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what decisions his Department has made regarding intellectual property rights which will(a) be transferred 659W to the privatised DERA and (b) stay with the retained DERA; if he will list them; how many intellectual property rights are still to be decided upon; and if he will make a statement. [146454]
§ Dr. MoonieI refer my hon. Friend to the announcement my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence made in the House on 24 July 2000,Official Report, columns 778–79, about our intention to proceed with the implementation of the Core Competence model for the DERA public-private partnership. Under Core Competence, around three-quarters of the current DERA organisations will be turned into a company, referred to as NewDERA. For strategic reasons, the remainder will be retained within the Ministry of Defence to carry out functions that could not appropriately be transferred to the private sector. This part will be known as the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.
As part of the PPP implementation process, we are currently carrying out a major programme to identify intellectual property rights within those elements of DERA that will form the new company. This programme is not yet complete, so no list is available. It is our intention that IPR owned by MOD that was developed within those areas of DERA that will form NewDERA should be transferred to the new company. This in essence would mean that NewDERA would be in the same position as it would have been had it been an industry contractor for research and technology work. The balance of MOD-owned IPR currently held by DERA will remain with DSTL.
We are committed to ensuring that NewDERA will have access only to that IPR which it has a right to and is necessary for its continuing business with MOD. Use of third party intellectual property by NewDERA will be subject to contractual constraints involving the owner where required.
§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the staff budget for DERA is; and what proportion of that budget is allocated for expenditure in Scotland. [147012]
§ Dr. MoonieThe DERA staff budget for the financial year 1999–2000 was £355.3 million of which some 2.7 per cent. was in respect of expenditure in Scotland.