Our inquiry
1. We are charged by the House of Commons with examining
the expenditure of the Office of Science and Technology (OST).
In both the Department of Trade and Industry's Estimates and the
OST's Science Budget, expenditure on the Royal Society and the
Royal Academy of Engineering is listed alongside that for the
Research Councils, Joint Infrastructure Fund and other government
science initiatives.[1]
We have launched an ongoing programme of scrutiny of the Research
Councils which take the great majority of OST's funding, but we
were also curious about the purpose of the £30 million given
to the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering in 2001-02.
On 19 December 2001, when the Secretary of State for Trade and
Industry and the Minister for Science came before us we asked
them about the rationale of funding the Royal Society and Royal
Academy of Engineering through the Science Budget.[2]
We subsequently received a detailed breakdown of the OST allocations
to both institutions.[3]
We decided to conduct an inquiry to find out whether this considerable
investment represents good value for money.
2. There are many other scientific learned societies
in the UK, ranging from the largest, which represent broad areas
of science, engineering and technology, such as the Institute
of Physics and the Royal Society of Chemistry, to small groups
with a very specialist interest. We were aware that some of them
also received government funding directly, in the form of project
grants, and indirectly, from occupying subsidised accommodation
for example. We decided to include these societies in our inquiry,
looking at the level of support they received from Government,
through direct funding, benefits in kind and from one-off grants
for particular projects. On 7 February 2002 we announced an inquiry
into government funding of the scientific learned societies. Our
terms of reference included an examination of the role of the
learned societies in providing scientific advice to Government
and in communicating science to the public, and how these activities
were coordinated.
3. In the course of this inquiry, we received over
60 memoranda from learned societies, professional institutions
and individuals. We held informal visits to both the Royal Society
and the Royal Academy of Engineering, during which we were briefed
about their work. We also held an informal meeting with Sir William
Stewart, President, and Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
in Edinburgh. Details of the visits are contained in Annex 1.
We held three formal oral evidence sessions. On 8 May 2002, we
heard oral evidence from Lord May of Oxford, President of the
Royal Society, Professor Dame Julia Higgins, Vice President and
Foreign Secretary and Mr Stephen Cox, Executive Secretary, the
Royal Society; and from Sir Alec Broers, President, Professor
Ann Dowling, Vice President and Mr Jon Burch, Executive Secretary,
the Royal Academy of Engineering. On 12 June 2002 the Committee
examined representatives from the British Computer Society; the
Royal Geographical Society; the Royal Society of Chemistry; the
British Association for the Advancement of Science and Dame Bridget
Ogilvie, Chair and Professor Ian Halliday, council member, Copus.
On 19 June 2002 Professor John Enderby, Vice President and Physical
Secretary and Mr Stephen Cox, Executive Secretary from the Royal
Society appeared before the Committee. We are very grateful to
all those who provided evidence to us, and in particular wish
to thank our specialist adviser, Professor Michael Elves, formerly
Director of the Office of Scientific and Educational Affairs,
Glaxo Wellcome plc.[4]
Definitions
4. The Foundation for Science and Technology compiles
a very useful Register of nearly 400 Learned and Professional
Societies.[5] There is
no clear definition of a 'learned society'. They are a heterogeneous
body of organisations, ranging from small, local societies, and
those with highly specialised fields of interest, to those with
both large memberships and broader interests within particular
major scientific or engineering disciplines. They look to develop
their particular area of interest, promoting discussion and dissemination
of new information amongst their membership. They also use meetings
and publications to improve public understanding of their fields
and to encourage further research and scholarship. In addition,
some learned societies, particularly those operating under a Royal
Charter, have the role of maintaining standards within the particular
profession they represent and awarding individuals "chartered
status" within it. They ensure that members have received
appropriate levels of training, and hold appropriate qualifications
prior to admission and, increasingly, will lay down and monitor
schemes for continuing professional development. The majority
of Learned Societies will be made up of professionals working
in or around the field in research or education (including in
schools), but some will admit enthusiastic or interested amateurs
to some grades of membership. Senior members of the societies
may be elected or appointed as Fellows. Membership is almost always
through election. In most cases their income comes from subscriptions,
publications, conferences and private sponsorship. It is hard
to distinguish between learned bodies and professional societies:
many are both. It is also hard to define what is a "scientific"
learned society.
5. We have attempted a list (which is printed as
Annex 2) in the full expectation that some will be annoyed by
their omission and others will disagree with their inclusion.
We have included medical, engineering and technology, as well
as strictly scientific, bodies, and also those involved in social
sciences and archaeology. We have not included those bodies whose
primary purpose is to promote science to the public: the British
Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Institution
of Great Britain, for example. Whatever its inaccuracies the list
of 245 bodies may at least serve to show the rich variety of scientific
learned societies in operation, as well as the local level of
some activity.
6. When we refer to "the learned societies"
in this Report, we are usually not including the Royal Society
and the Royal Academy of Engineering although they do of course
come under this description. We have used an upper case Fellowship
throughout this Report to denote the body of Fellows of the organisations,
and a lower case fellow to describe a research fellow.
1 The Government's Expenditure Plans 2001-02 to
2003-04 and Main Estimates 2001-02, Cm 5112, March 2001; Science
Budget 2001-02 - 2003-04, November 2000 Back
2
Science and Technology Committee, Minutes of Evidence, 19 December
2001, HC 459-i, Ev 19 Back
3
Ibid, Ev 22-28 Back
4
Professor Elves is Treasurer of the Institute of Biology Back
5
The most recent was published in 1999 - a new version is in preparation Back
