10.
asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will give a regular progress report to Parliament on the Joint European Torus project; and if he will make a statement on the progress achieved to date.
Yes. The Council of Ministers has chosen Culham as the site for JET and agreed the broad outlines of the management structure. An interim JET council consisting of officials and experts from the 10 participating countries is preparing the statutes of the joint undertaking which will manage the project and taking the decisions necessary to maintain the momentum of the project during this interim stage.
Will the Minister give an assurance to the House that every effort will be made to press ahead with the project, bearing in mind that it could enable us to avoid using the fast breeder reactor at all?
Yes.
How many staff were lost to Culham owing to the inordinate delay in taking a decision?
I cannot give the hon. Gentleman any figures. I can only say that the whole of the staff at Culham and the whole of the staff at Bicester welcomed the efforts by the Department to bring JET to Culham. It is a United Kingdom-based project.