asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for the years 1975 to 1985, respectively, the amount of money, expressed both as a total figure and as a percentage of total research awards made by his Department, allocated by his Department to universities or other research institutions for research into the following: (a) the occupational health and safety of United Kingdom fishermen and (b) the safety of United Kingdom fishing vessels.

Statistics are not readily available in the form requested: moreover, research into marine safety is in general applicable also to fishing vessels and fishermen. However, the approximate value of some research projects applicable to the fishing industry is as follows:

Year	Research	Cost
		£
1975–78	Loss of the Gaul	65,000
1975, 1983	Buoyancy clothing	1,970
1979	Safety of gutting shelters	79,000
1978–81	Noise in fishing vessels	23,000
1979–84	Liferafts	104,000
1981–85	SAFESHIP (Survival in extreme seas)	800,000
1982	Navigation lights for fishing vessels	1,000
1983–84	Roll tests on fishing vessels	65,000
1983–85	Ship motion studies	202,000

The total funds spent by the Marine Directorate of the Department on research into marine safety and pollution control and prevention over the last six years was:

Year	Amount
	£ million
1979–80	1·7
1980–81	1·9
1981–82	2·0
1982–83	2·334
1983–84	2·866
1984–85	*2·600
* Provisional.

Estimated total expenditure on external research contracts by the Department of Transport was £9·8 million in 1984–85.