asked the Secretary of State for Energy what was the Government expenditure in the last financial year on research to extend knowledge on the effects of atomic radiation on persons and on the environment; and what proposals the Government has to increase this sum in future years.

I have been asked to reply.Expenditure in the financial year 1976–77 totalled about £2·9 million covering biomedical research into the dispersion of radioactiviity and its effect on man and other forms of life in marine and other environments; and techniques for measuring and monitoring.The White Paper "Nuclear Power and the Environment" (Cmnd. 6820) published last month placed responsibility for this area of research jointly on me and my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales. We are not yet in a position to estimate the level of expenditure in future years.