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Dept of Health

Answer

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the (a) staffing structure, (b) works and (c) funding of the Biological Standards Institute in Northern Ireland. [68262] Ms Blears: [holding answer 8 July 2002]: I have been asked to reply. The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control is based in England and is an Executive Non-departmental Public Body accountable to Ministers, being the Secretary of State for Health, The Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales and the Department of Health and Social Services, Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State assumes lead responsibility on behalf of the four United Kingdom health departments in dealing with the management issues of National Institute for Biological Standards and Control. The functions of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control are set out in Statutory Instrument 1976 No 917: to devise standards for the purity and potency of biological substances; to test biological substances; to prepare and distribute standards; to collaborate with the World Health Organisation, European Pharmacopoeia Commission and other international organisations; to carry out research. Core funding from the Government for 2002-03 is £9.853 million. The Northern Ireland contribution to the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in 2001-02 was £261,000. Details of the staffing structure, the work and the funding of National Institute for Biological Standards and Control are in the public domain and can be found on the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control website at www.nibsc.ac.uk or in any of the published annual reports.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

68262; 389 c1531-2W;389 c1529-30W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Finance Northern Ireland Staff Government research establishments National Institute for Biological Standards and Control

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk