To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will provide not less than an extra £2 million per year for the Medical Research Council to cover the British contribution to the second stage of sequencing the DNA of the nematode Caenorhabditis Elegas.

My right hon. and learned Friend and I are in touch with the chairman and secretary of the council on this issue. In this financial year the allocation to the council from this Department's science budget will total almost £203 million. The 1992–93 allocations announced in December will raise that sum to almost £219 million, excluding money transferred from the universities following changes in the dual support arrangements. This represents a 4 per cent. real terms increase on this year's funding and a 32 per cent. increase since 1979–80. It is for the council to decide on the deployment of these funds.