asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his Department's planned expenditure on research and development for 1987–88; and what are the main areas of research selected by his Department under the Rothschild principles of the customer-contractor relationship.

My Department's planned expenditure on research and development in 1987–88, on a full cost basis, is £111·4 million. Of this total, £58·8 million will be commissioned under the Rothschild principles with outside contractors, primarily the Agricultural and Food Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council, the food industry's research associations, and the universities.The main areas of research comprise:

	£ million
Agriculture and horticulture	39·8
Food	14·9
Fisheries	1·8
Protection of the aquatic environment	0·3
River and coastal engineering	2·0

In addition, my Department funds the trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, through a grant-in-aid; of this, it is estimated that £4·9 million will be devoted to R and D in 1987–88.The remaining £47·7 million represents the cost of R and D conducted within the Department's Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, food science laboratories and fisheries laboratories, and central administration costs.The allocation of funds between areas of research is guided by the recommendations of the Priorities Board for Research and Development in Agriculture and Food; and in the case of fisheries and protection of the aquatic environment, by consultation with the industry and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland to co-ordinate a national programme.