§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the total amount spent on scientific research that has taken place in the UK in each of the last five years; and what her estimate is of the proportions that were funded(a) privately and (b) publicly. [61092]
§ Ms HewittThe total amount spent on research and development in the UK in £ billion is as follows:
(government departments, Research Councils and Funding Councils) is as follows:
1245W
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Private 52 51 54 51 54 Public 34 33 32 32 29 The balance (14 to 18 per cent.) comes from abroad and includes contributions from the EU. Further information can be found in Table 6.3 on the Science, Engineering and Technology Statistics website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/ost/setstats.
The increase in the level of R&D investment by the private sector funders indicates that greater "leverage" is being achieved by the Government investment in science, and that the publicly funded UK Science Base is fit for purpose in meeting the requirements of those other groups in society which fund.