asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will announce planning guidelines for the recipient bodies of the science budget for the period up to 1983–84.

I have accepted the recommendation of the advisory board for the research councils that the guidelines for use in their planning by the bodies which are grant-aided from the science budget should be as follows, on the basis of the Government's expenditure plans in Cmnd. 7841:—

Per cent.
	1981–82	1982–83
Agricultural Research Council	+0·9	+1·1
Medical Research Council	+0·6	+1·1
Natural Environment Research Council	+0·6	+1·1
Science Research Council	+0·1	+0·6
Social Science Research Council	–4·8	0·0
British Museum (Natural History)	+0·6	+1·1
Royal Society	+0·6	+1·1

For 1983–84 the guidelines provide for zero growth.The guidelines for each body represent the projected percentage change in its base allocation from year to year. The position will be reviewed by the advisory board in its current year's forward look.