Written question asked by Ian Stewart (Labour) on Monday, 2 March 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 4 March 2009. It was answered by Lord Davies of Stamford (Labour) on Tuesday, 31 March 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Departmental Scientists

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his Department's budget for scientific advice and research is in 2008-09; for what purposes the equivalent budget for 2007-08 was used; and how many people employed in his Department have a science or engineering degree.

Answer: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) publishes information on its overall expenditure on research in UK Defence Statistics, a copy of which is in the Library of the House and is available online at:"http://www.dasa.mod.uk/applications/newWeb/www/index.php?page=67&pubType=1&thiscontent=0&date=2008-09-24"The majority of the research expenditure is undertaken by the science/innovation/technology Top Level Budget. The budget for this organisation, including operating costs, was laid out in the Winter Supplementary Estimates 2008-09 as £502 million.The wide ranging research activities undertaken by MOD in 2007-08 are described in the MOD Annual Report and Accounts 2007-2008 Volume 1: Annual Performance Report (paragraphs 171 to 183). A copy of this document is also in the Library of the House and is available online at:"http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/CorporatePublications/AnnualReports/MODAnnualReports0708/"In a recent survey of graduate qualifications in MOD and Dstl, the MOD's Trading Fund Agency undertaking research activities, over 3,350 members of staff declared their first degree to be in either science or engineering. However, this information has been provided voluntarily and is therefore likely to be incomplete.

Secondary information