The Minister spoke about the fact that biotechnology will play a pivotal role in social and industrial development, as physics and chemistry did following the Second World War. However, physics and chemistry are very important in the education of those who enter the biotechnology field. The Minister said we must meet the challenge of making science and engineering careers attractive to students. Engineering has been seriously under-subscribed for many years, but lowering maths requirements will do no good. Maths must be got up to standard within schools, not by providing for a complementary year. We must find ways to encourage people to stay with physics and chemistry as undergraduates. There is a significant drop-off rate in the numbers taking those subjects when they come to make choices in scientific courses in the third or fourth years of study. At the opening of the nanoscience technology unit, I noted that the backgrounds of the scientists involved included primary degrees in physics or chemistry. These subjects were not just important after the Second World War, they are very important still.