To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the outcome of the first scientific support and exchange (stimulation) programme of the European Communities; and what progress has been made in developing a successor programme to SCIENCE within the European Communities and European Free Trade Association member states.

Overall, 417 projects were financed under the first EC stimulation programme (1985–88) linking 1,257 laboratories all over Europe and involving 3,721 researchers (counted on a full-time equivalent basis). The successor to the first stimulation programme, SCIENCE (1988–92), is already operating successfully in the European Community. Agreements to include Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland in the SCIENCE programme are at present under discussion.