asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what will be the total outcome of expenditure by his Department on scientific research in 1982; in which areas it has been allocated, including university research and research councils; how much of this total has, in fact, been allocated to the European Economic Community and international projects; and what was the position three years previously and in 1974.

Total expenditure out of their grants-in-aid by the bodies covered by the science budget, that is the five research councils, the British Museum—natural history—and the Royal Society was as follows:

	million £
1973–74	139·9
1978–79	281·1
1981–82	447·9
	(provisional appropriation accounts)

This expenditure included research grants to universities and polytechnics, research carried out in research council's own institutes, postgraduate student awards in the sciences, and the bodies' own administrative expenses.Within the above totals, the total expenditure on subscriptions to international bodies from their grants-in-aid by certain of the research councils, in the same three financial years, was:

	million £
1973–74	18·7
1978–79	46·7
1981–82	42·4

The comparable figures for 1982–83 are not yet available.University scientific research is supported partly through general university funds and partly through external funding. General university funds are provided largely by the Department through the University Grants Committee in the form of annual recurrent grants and it is estimated that total resources amounting to about 30 per cent. of these grants are devoted to research. In 1981–82 the total recurrent grant for the universities was £959·6 million. The comparable figures for 1973–74 and 1978–79 were respectively £343·2 million and £602·0 million. Universities' external funds come from a variety of sources, the largest single source being the research councils.Except as above, information about contributions by the research councils and the universities to the EC and to other international projects is not readily available.