asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what study he has made of the proposal by Professor G. W. J. Mitchell FRS, chairman of the Science and Engineering Research Council, on 5 November 1986 for the study of inter-university research centres in increasingly expensive fields such as mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography and amino-acid sequencing a copy of which has been sent to him; and if he will make a statement.

While my right hon. Friend is aware of this suggestion made by Professor Mitchell in a lecture to the Royal Society last November, he has yet to receive any formal proposal. My right hon. Friend understands that the general concept is to be discussed by the appropriate bodies responsible for supporting university and polytechnic research and he looks forward to receiving their advice.