HC Deb 05 February 2002 vol 379 c853W
Angus Robertson

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the total expenditure by his Department is on research and development; and how much of the total is spent in Scotland. [32460]

Dr. Moonie

[holding answer 1 February 2002]In financial year 1999–2000 the Ministry of Defence spent £2,345 million net inclusive of VAT on research and development.

I regret that it is not possible to state how much of that total figure represented expenditure in the United Kingdom or in Scotland since our data do not include a regional breakdown.

Angus Robertson

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much funding has been allocated in the current financial year for research and development in(a) the UK and (b) Scotland; what proportion of the Scottish total is given (i) to DERA's own research and (ii) research funded in academic and non-DERA sites; and if he will list the non-DERA sites. [32457]

Dr. Moonie

[holding answer 1 February 2002]: The allocation for research in the Major Customers Research Budget is £502 million inclusive of VAT. This includes work undertaken by the Ministry of Defence, industry and universities.

The MOD does not have an allocation for development as such. The development expenditure is budgeted for within the overall equipment programme allocation and does not fall into a separate budget. The amount that is quoted for statistical purposes, in any one year, is largely a consequence of the state of the procurement cycle at which major equipment projects happen to be in, in the year in question.

I regret that it is not possible to state how much of the total research figure represents expenditure in the United Kingdom or in Scotland since our data do not include a regional breakdown. Since July 2001, DERA ceased to exist and under public-private partnership arrangements it has separated into QinetiQ, a wholly government-owned plc, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories (DSTL).

There are no available data which can provide a breakdown of research and development expenditure on MOD sites.