MONDAY 16 JULY 2007

JONATHAN SHAW MP, PROFESSOR SIR HOWARD DALTON AND PROFESSOR SIR DAVID KING

  Q475  Chairman: Could I offer a particularly warm welcome to our three witnesses this afternoon on this, the penultimate session of our inquiry investigating the oceans, one of the excellent cross-cutting inquiries which the Science and Technology Committee are involved with. Our three witnesses this afternoon are Jonathan Shaw, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defra. Could we not only welcome you, Jonathan, but also congratulate you on your appointment. We are delighted for you.

  Jonathan Shaw: Thank you, Chairman.

  Q476  Chairman: Professor Sir David King, the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, welcome again, Sir David. Last, but by no means least, Sir Howard Dalton, Defra's Departmental Chief Scientific Adviser, and you are always welcome to our Committee.

  Professor Sir Howard Dalton: Thank you, Chairman.

  Q477  Chairman: I wonder if we could move on quickly and perhaps ask you, Jonathan, who is the Minister for Marine Science?

  Jonathan Shaw: I am the Minister for Marine Science. The IACMST reports to me, so I am the Minister for Marine Science in terms of Defra's responsibility.

  Q478  Chairman: The division between DIUS and Defra, are you conscious of where the responsibility for one begins and the other one ends?

  Jonathan Shaw: DIUS, I am not sure—

  Professor Sir David King: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

  Jonathan Shaw: Chairman, in preparing for this inquiry I asked the officials to prepare me a list of acronyms for this particular area and there are 48, so I have got a crib sheet.

  Q479  Chairman: We will not use another acronym for the whole afternoon. I expect all my colleagues to give the full titles.

  Jonathan Shaw: You are a better man than I am, Chairman!