Annex F
ADDITIONAL DEPARTMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS
1. DETR.
2. DFID.
SCIENTIFIC
ADVICE
Department of the Environment, Transport and the
Regions
The Department of the Environment, Transport
and the Regions was formed in 1997 from the Departments of Environment
and Transport. The span of science and technology that underpins
its policies is very wide, from the science of man made climate
change, to the social science of inner city regeneration. Many
of its associated non-departmental bodies and agencies require
strong scientific and technical underpinning to carry out their
function. These include the Civil Aviation Agency, English Nature,
the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive (who have
submitted a separate memorandum) and the Highways Agency.
The Department and its associated bodies need
robust advice on engineering, science and social science to carry
out their duties. This advice takes place at several stages in
policy formulation: the design of underpinning research programmes,
the assessment of the current state of knowledge, an assessment
of the risks of various courses of action, and recommendations
on policy. The Department directly employs more than 200 scientists,
engineers, social scientists and economists, who are assisted
by a very substantial body of professional support in its associated
bodies. In addition it spends some £110 million a year on
research and technical consultancies. The Department is assisted
in its work by specialist committees (more than 50 in number)
drawing on invaluable external advice.
A development over recent years has been the
"globalisation" of the science assessment and risk assessment
process. This reflects the increasing degree to which the Department's
policy is developed in international fora. Within the European
Union and wider international fora, DETR-funded research is used
to contribute to a broad international consensus on the underpinning
scientific issues of policy. This consensus then informs the negotiation
of internationally agreed rules and policies. Some of these international
processes, such as the WMO/UNEP Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, follow the very highest standards in assessment of science
and technology. Other processes, including those in the EU would
benefit from greater rigour. The UK is particularly fortunate
in the calibre of the scientific base on which it can draw in
assisting international assessment of the underpinning science.
While the Department believes that it generally
conforms to the principles of the May Guidelines it very
much welcomes the codification of those principles by Sir Robert
May. These principles along with Nolan Principles are now
being incorporated in the five-year programme of reviews of DETR
advisory committees.
The Department places the highest importance
in ensuring that it retains public trust in its processes for
handling scientific issues. It believes that the May Guidelines,
together with the principles of Cmnd 2250 and the general
move to greater openness and public access act as important quality
control on it processes.
In accordance with Cmnd 2250 DETR research is
commissioned within each policy Directorate. This ensures that
technical advice and research contractors are placed close to
the policy formulation process. As far as possible we undertake
this process in the public domain. Each spring the Department
publishes its proposed commissioned research programme for the
year. This research is open to tender to ensure that all specialists
in a field have an opportunity to volunteer proposals. Research
results are open to public access. Peer review is increasingly
used in controversial areas. Research contractors are encouraged
to publish in the refereed literature. The Department also commissions
and publishes external reviews of the scientific literature in
areas where scientific understanding is still evolving. External
contractors may undertake these reviews. They are often undertaken
by specially constituted review groups of outside experts who
are leaders in their field. The Department has many external advisory
committees which offer advice on policy in areas where there is
a significant technical dimension. Wherever appropriate it is
normal practice to make the technical underpinning of that advice
accessible to the public.
The Department's Chief Scientist, supported
by the Science and Technology Policy Division ensures that the
departments conduct of research and interpretation of scientific
knowledge conforms to these principles. He reports to the DETR
Board and to the DETR Minister with responsibility for ensuring
adherence to the May Guidelines on the state of the Departments
research and its application of the Guidelines.
Experience has shown that in very controversial
areas it is essential to draw on as wide a range of advice, in
as public a process, as possible. While this approach can be expensive
and time consuming, it leads to a better foundation for policy.
In other cases where issues are less controversial a lighter touch
may be more appropriate.
DEPARTMENT
FOR INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT (DFID): SCIENTIFIC
AND PROFESSIONAL
ADVISORY SYSTEM
DFID's purpose
DFID's aim is the elimination of poverty in
poorer countries, through sustainable development as set out in
the Government's White Paper—Eliminating World Poverty—November
1997.
DFID's specific objectives are:
— Policies and actions which promote
sustainable livelihoods.
— Better education, health and opportunities
for poor people.
— Protection and better management
of natural and physical environment.
DFID has bilateral development assistance programmes
in over 130 countries, it is also responsible for the UK's contributions
to the multilateral development banks, UN development and relief
agencies and to the development programmes of the European Union.
Scientific, Engineering and Professional Advice
In the management and delivery of development
assistance, influencing the work of other donors and organisations,
and in international negotiations, DFID calls on a wide range
of scientific, engineering and professional advice and expertise.
Because of the breadth of fields and issues
to be covered, DFID does not have a Chief Scientist, however it
does have six professional and advisory divisions namely:
— Economic and Institutional
— Natural Resources and Environment
Each of these Divisions is headed by a Chief
Adviser who has a team of in-house professional advisers and a
network of resource centre schemes and call-down contracts through
which additional professional advice can be obtained.
Professional advisory staff, which are about
20 per cent of the Department's staff, are "brigaded"
in interdisciplinary teams within DFID's spending departments
in UK and overseas in its offices in Fiji, Thailand, Bangladesh,
India, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Barbados. These advisory
teams help to develop policy and strategy, as well as to identify,
prepare, appraise and supervise UK development assistance programmes
in the regions for which they are responsible. They also liaise
with other donors and with relevant recipient government departments.
The Chief Advisers are responsible for the recruitment,
career development, posting and quality management of their staff.
They are also available to advise Ministers on scientific, engineering
and development issues. Chief Advisers meet regularly to ensure
their advice is consistent and complementary.
Each Chief Adviser has a "knowledge budget"
for the commissioning of research and studies to underpin the
work and quality of DFID's operations. The work is commissioned
in UK and increasingly from institutions in developing countries.
Strategies are developed to guide the commissioning of work and
ensure that it supports the aims and objectives of DFID. The work
of research programmes is steered by Advisory Committees made
up of internal and external nominees.
DFID has recently created a small "Knowledge
Policy Unit" to develop an over-arching strategy for its
"knowledge" generation work. This Unit will further
develop systematic performance and impact assessment systems.
It will provide the focal point for DFID's contacts with OST and
the Research Councils. The KPU will report to the Strategic Director—Natural
and Physical Environment.
DFID's Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
is the Department's Science Minister.
May 1998
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