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Dr. Thomas
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the total identifiable expenditure on research by his Department in each year since 1979; what proportion was awarded on a customer-contractor basis; and what proportion of his total departmental budget was expended on research for each year.
Mr. Atkins
The expenditure on research and development by the Department of Transport is set out in the table, together with the proportion this represents of the Department's total expenditure in the financial years 1979–80 to 1988–89. All research commissioned by the Department is based on the customer-contractor principle.
| Outturn prices | ||
| Financial year | R and D expenditure £ million | Percentage of total DTp expenditure |
| 1979–80 | 17·8 | 3·0 |
| 1980–81 | 21·1 | 3·0 |
| 1981–82 | 27·5 | 3·0 |
| 1982–83 | 25·9 | 2·4 |
| 1983–84 | 127·8 | 2·8 |
| 1984–85 | 32·7 | 2·7 |
| 1985–86 | 225·0 | 2·1 |
| 1986–87 | 24·6 | 1·9 |
| 1987–88 | 26·4 | 1·9 |
| 1988–89 | 27·0 | 1·9 |
| 1 In July 1983, responsibility for air and marine transport was transferred to DTp. | ||
| 2 In 1985–86, BR and LRT assumed full responsibility for their own R and D expenditure. Government financial support continued to be provided through the general revenue grants to BR and LRT; but the research elements cannot be separately identified. | ||