MAFF criticised for slashing its research funds
MAFF criticised for slashing its research funds
By Isabel Davies
MAFF has been severely reprimanded by MPs for slashing its research budget as part of a more general move to cut departmental spending.
The science and technology select committee has accused MAFF of being short-sighted for cutting back on its research programme at a time when confidence in the industry is so low.
MPs on the committee singled out MAFF for criticism in a new report on government expenditure on research and development.
Since 1997/8 the budget has dropped from £140m to £126m despite an internal working group report recommending that MAFF should increase spending by £8m each year.
Committee chairman Michael Clark (Con, Rayleigh) said while MAFF ministers and officials claimed to uphold the importance of adequate investment in research, the evidence suggested otherwise.
Agriculture was in crisis and public confidence was at an all time low, he said.
"Yet at this highly sensitive juncture, when common sense would suggest that the need for basic research has never been greater, MAFF has cut its R&D budget… by 10% over the lifetime of the current parliament."
The committees report said that ministers were missing the point when they claimed the cuts had not affected BSE research which was "protected".
It was vital research but its importance had only become clear after the event.
"It is not so much a question of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted as of fitting security devices to prevent a further break-in," said the report.
No one knew when the next BSE-type problem would occur so the ministry could be sure that it was not cutting back on research in precisely the wrong areas, MPs concluded.
The report also pointed out that research could not be turned off and on again like a tap as it depended on skilled scientists and well-equipped facilities which needed secure funding.
"The kind of basic research which has suffered as a result of MAFFs squeeze on its R and D budget is unlikely to be carried out by anyone else. It will certainly not be done by the agriculture industry itself in its present straightened circumstances – still less by individual farmers."
Referring to the governments TB programme, Elaine King of the National Federation of Badger Groups said it was certainly difficult to get the government to agree to fund research which did not involve badgers. *