APPENDIX 1
Memorandum from the Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI)
INTRODUCTION
1. The DTI has benefited from a Condordat
with the ESRC since 1993. This arrangement derived from the commitment
in the SET White Paper 1993—"Realising our Potential"—stating
that the Department and the Research Councils should have Concordats
in place to put their co-operation on an institutional footing
and ensure regular contact. The co-operation with the ESRC has
been of real practical value to policy makers and the DTI is keen
to build on this relationship.
2. The ESRC-DTI Concordat binds the two
parties to an annual meeting to explore each other's activities
and identify potential areas for collaboration. The last meeting
was held on the 4 May 2004 at the DTI. Discussion of areas of
activity of interest to both parties has included:
— Science base areas (including collaborative
research and HEIF).
— Enterprise, Innovation and Productivity.
3. The Chairman of this Group is Patrick
Mcdonald, Director of Key Business Technologies (KBT), DTI.
The Department is represented by OST, KBT, Strategy
Unit, and Employment Relations Directorate.
The ESRC is represented by Professor Ian Diamond,
Chief Executive and colleagues such as the Director of Finance,
and the Director for Knowledge Transfer.
Additional areas of co-operation
4. The DTI and the ESRC have held lunchtime
seminars that provided valuable discussion platforms on programmes
which affect industry and the consumer, and are of interest across
the Department. Many joint initiatives have been set up and useful
dialogue continues.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
5. The ESRC see the Concordat as an ideal
vehicle to outline initiatives they have planned or under consideration.
Within DTI we are working at enlarging the group of participants
at events and at Concordat meetings without losing their effectiveness.
This would lead to wider awareness and greater stakeholder contribution
to many important initiatives undertaken by ESRC and enlarging
the scope of the Concordat.
USE OF
ESRC RESEARCH
6. The DTI uses the research results produced
by ESRC at a number of different levels for policy making. Important
examples of this include:
Policy Development
7. ESRC research has contributed significantly
to policy development in the DTI. The jointly funded study by
Michael Porter and Christian Ketels "UK Competitiveness:
Moving to the Next Stage", which had a significant impact.
8. The Future of Work Programme has informed
the policy making process in the area of employment relations
and diversity in the workplace and was used in the development
of the Employment Relations Bill 2002.
9. Research centres such as the Centre for
Research on Innovation and Competition and the Centre for Business
Research have also contributed to policy development, for example
in developing the technology strategy.
10. The joint seminar "Devolution and
Economic Policy" has informed policy making on regional and
innovation policies and the effects of devolution.
Policy Appraisal
11. Some of the projects funded by the ESRC
provide evidence for policy appraisal. Examples include the Workplace
Employee Relations Survey which is co-funded with DFES, ESRC and
DTI which has been used to assess the impact of employment regulation
prior to their introduction. These Regulatory Impact Assessments
are an integral part of policy formation.
12. Other programmes such as the Evolution
of Business Knowledge which the DTI co-funds have fed into strategic
policy development such as review of innovation policy "Competing
in the Global Economy: The Innovation Challenge", 2003.
Policy Evaluation
13. Policy evaluation is a key ingredient
to future policy development. The DTI has been supported in its
evaluation activities by various ESRC research initiatives such
as the Advanced Institute of Management research (AIM). Many leading
researchers and institutions are involved in AIM.
27 September 2004
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