1 INTRODUCTION
1. The Science and Technology Committee is appointed
by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration
and policy of the Office of Science and Technology (OST) and its
associated public bodies.[1]
These "associated public bodies" are not clearly defined:
we have taken the term principally to mean the seven Research
Councils and the Council for Science and Technology.
2. OST has been part of the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) since 1995. It has two primary functions:
- The Transdepartmental Science
and Technology Group
supports the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA), the head of OST.
The CSA acts as adviser to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Minister for
Science and Innovation, on science, engineering and technology
matters.
- The Science and Engineering Base Group
supports the Director General of the Research Councils (DGRC)
in allocating the Science Budget and in assuring the successful
operation of the seven Research Councils.
OST's role in overseeing science and technology policy
across Government is mirrored by the broad remit of the Committee,
which frequently scrutinises the work of other Government departments
in the area of science policy.
3. Each year we produce a Report on the work of OST.
In support of this we aim to hold an evidence session with the
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry during the course of
each parliamentary session: this year Patricia Hewitt appeared
before us on 14 July. In last year's Report we announced that
we would be holding regular "Science Question Time"
sessions with the Minister for Science and Innovation, Lord Sainsbury
of Turville.[2] It has
been a longstanding regret of ours that the Minister's membership
of the House of Lords denies Members the opportunities enjoyed
by members of other select committees to question Ministers during
debates and departmental question times. We were therefore very
pleased that the Science Minister agreed to our suggestion of
regular brief sessions to discuss science policy issues. This
year we held four such sessions on 9 February, 12 May, 14 July
and 1 December. As well as raising issues of concern to the Committee,
we solicited topics for questioning from the public and raised
issues of national interest. The format has enabled us to be more
reactive to topical issues than has been possible in the past
and has helped to improve the quality of our scrutiny of OST.
4. Evidence sessions held with Ministers from other
departments have also been used to inform this Report. In July
the Government published its Science and Innovation Investment
Framework 2004-2014. The document heralded a substantial increase
in the Science Budget and demonstrated the increasing importance
of science within the broader political agenda. On 1 November
we held an evidence session with a Minister from each of the three
departments responsible for producing the document: Rt Hon Paul
Boateng, Chief Secretary to the Treasury; Dr Kim Howells, Minister
of State in the Department for Education and Skills; and the Lord
Sainsbury of Turville, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department of Trade and Industry. The transcript of this session,
and those of all the sessions referred to in paragraph 3, above,
are published alongside this Report.
5. In addition to taking oral evidence, we also submitted
a number of written questions to OST. We are grateful to OST for
providing the considered responses that are published with this
Report. We are grateful to the Scrutiny Unit in the House of Commons
for providing us with an analysis of the performance indicators
used by OST; and to our specialist adviser, Professor Michael
Elves, formerly the Director of the Office of Scientific and Educational
Affairs at Glaxo Wellcome plc.
1 House of Commons Standing Order No. 152 Back
2
Fourth Report of the Committee, Session 2003-04, The Office of
Science and Technology: Scrutiny Report 2003, HC 316, p 30 Back
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