Cambridge/MIT Institute
47. Another somewhat surprising line in the OST's Science Budget
and Estimates relates to the Cambridge/MIT Institute (CMI). In
November 1999, it was announced that the Government would contribute
£65 million over a five year period from July 2000 to a collaboration
between the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT).[84]
This money has been channelled through OST. Under the 2002 Science
Budget allocations, £14 million a year has been allocated
in 2001-02 to 2003-04 to fund CMI programmes in four areas: integrated
research; undergraduate exchange; professional practice; and national
competitiveness network. It was intended that CMI would work with
the Science Enterprise Centres to disseminate best practice.[85]
The Investing in Innovation strategy document states that
"CMI is now starting to deliver tangible benefits to UK research
and business", but gives no details.[86]
48. We asked OST how the expenditure on CMI was being evaluated.
OST's response states that CMI is evaluating its own activities,
with the assistance of external consultants and the DTI Performance
and Evaluation Unit; and OST will be commissioning an independent
evaluation.[87] We
welcome OST's decision to commission an independent evaluation
of the Cambridge/MIT Institute and recommend that it be published
when complete. The decision to fund the CMI, made outside
the usual Science Budget allocation process, is somewhat curious,
and we intend to ensure that its effectiveness is monitored.
OST response to scrutiny
49. We are grateful to the OST, and to the DTI more widely, for
its assistance and co-operation in our work of scrutiny. We acknowledge
that parliamentary scrutiny places a burden of work on Departments,
and especially on an Office so small, and tightly-staffed, as
OST. We hope that the Department will recognise the value of
effective scrutiny, and ensure that OST is resourced appropriately
to meet the reasonable demands and expectations of Parliament.
29
2002 Spending Review - Opportunity and security for all: Investing
in an enterprising, fairer Britain, Cm 5570, chapter 25; also
paras 2.18-21 and 15.4ff. Back
30
Cm 5570, Table 25.1 Back
31
Cm 5570, para 15.5 Back
32
Investing in Innovation: A strategy for science, engineering
and technology, July 2002, para 3.49 Back
33
Ibid, para 3.50 Back
34
Ev 13, para 1 Back
35
Investing in Innovation, paras 3.51-3.52 Back
36
Q29 Back
37
JM Consulting, 2002: available via www.ost.gov.uk . See also
Investment in Innovation, para 3.37 Back
38
Investment in Innovation, para 3.40 Back
39
Ibid, para 3.41. The devolved administrations "will
receive their share of the funding ... and will, if they so decide,
be able to use if to fund recurrent research in the universities". Back
40
Second Report, Session 2001-02, HC 507, paras 78-79, 90 Back
41
Q49; also Q56 Back
42
Cm 5570, para 25.10; see also Q56 Back
43
Cross-Cutting Review of Science and Research: Final Report,
March 2002, paras 281-285 Back
44
Q51 Back
45
Sixth Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee,
Departmental Annual Report 2002, Session 2001-02, HC 969,
paras 25-26 Back
46
See Q8-Q9 Back
47
Ev 13, para 1; see Q1 ff Back
48
Ev 14, para 2. See www.treasury.gov.uk/mediastore/otherfiles/science_crosscutter.pdf Back
49
SET for success: The Supply of People with Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics skills: The Report of Sir Gareth Roberts'
Review, April 2002 Back
50
Investing in Innovation, p 95 Back
51
Ev 15, para 3 Back
52
Cross-Cutting Review, para 60 ff Back
53
Investing in Innovation: A strategy for science, engineering
and technology, July 2002. Available via www.hm-treasury.gov.uk Back
54
For details, see www.europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp5 Back
55
Q12 Back
56
Q19-Q20; Ev 15, para 4 and Ev 23, Annex C Back
57
Ev 15, para 4 (iv) and (v) and Ev 24, Annex C Back
58
Ev 15, para 4 (i) and (iii). Back
59
Ev 15, para 4 (i) Back
60
Q13; for details see Ev 16, para 4 (vi) to (x) Back
61
HC459-i, Ev 1-Ev 5. Back
62
HC459-i, Q3. Back
63
Q58. Back
64
DTI Press Notice P/2002/586, 23 September 2002. Back
65
Quinquennial Review of the Grant Awarding Research Councils Stage
2 Report by the Review Team, November 2001. Available via www.ost.gov.uk
Back
66
Q71 Back
67
Quinquennial review of the CCLRC Stage 2 "Improving Performance",
April 2002. Available via www.cclrc.ac.uk Back
68
Ev 18, para 15 Back
69
Available via www.ahrb.ac.uk Back
70
Ev 18, para 14. Back
71
Q83 Back
72
Q82 Back
73
Q84 Back
74
For minutes of CST's meetings, reports etc see www.cst.gov.uk
Back
75
Fourth Report, Session 2000-1, The Scientific Advisory System,
HC 257, para 14; Sixth Report, Session 2000-01, Are We Realising
Our Potential?, HC200-I, paras 35-38. Back
76
Imagination and Understanding, July 2001 Back
77
See Cm 5416, paras 5.16-5.17, and CST Annual Report for 2001-02 Back
78
OST circular 19 August 2002. For details see www.ost.gov.uk Back
79
Cm 5416, para 5.22 Back
80
Fifth Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee,
Session 2001-02, Genetically Modified Organisms, HC 767,
para 17 Back
81
Fourth Report of the Science and Technology Committee, Session
2001-02, HC 791 Back
82
Ev 21-Ev 23, Annexes A and B Back
83
Fifth Report of the Science and Technology Committee, Session
2001-02, HC 774-I. Back
84
Treasury Press Notice 186/99, 8 November 1999. See also www.cmi.cam.ac.uk Back
85
Science Budget 2001-02 to 2003-04, page 9 and Table 2. £1,145
was spent in 2000-01. Back
86
Investing in Innovation, para 5.31 Back
87
Ev 19, para 17 Back