Memorandum 24
Submission from the Council for Science
and Technology
INTRODUCTION
1. The Council for Science and Technology
(CST) is the Prime Minister's top-level independent advisory body
on strategic science and technology policy issues.
2. The Council endorses the view that science
and technology should be at the heart of policy-making and, in
terms of its own position, does this by influencing Government
through the advice it provides.
3. It is an advisory non-departmental public
body which comes within the remit of the Department of Innovation,
Universities and Skills (DIUS) but has a remit to provide advice
across the whole of Government, and to First Ministers of Scotland
and Wales. It was originally created in 1993, and reconstituted
most recently in 2004. Its terms of reference are at Annex A.
4. The CST is co-chaired by the Government
Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington, and by Professor
Dame Janet Finch,[105]
together with 14 members drawn from a range of academic,
business and charity backgrounds (see Annex B). It focuses on
issues that cut across Government departments within the medium
to long-term.
5. The CST's work programme is developed
by its members in discussion with Government. It is the CST's
aim that each project should have a sponsor Minister from within
Government.
6. CST provides its advice to Government
through two main mechanisms: oral advice at meetings with Ministers,
and letters or written reports either at the outcome of a particular
project or during the course of the project. CST also responds
to Government on specific consultations and policy developments.[106]
7. In undertaking projects CST draws on
both the expertise of others as well as from its own membership
in both gathering and interpreting the evidence base, and always
seeks to present its analysis and recommendations to Government
in a coherent and practical way. One of the strengths of a body
such as CST is that it can range across a wide spectrum of science
and technology issues, and their social implications.
SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY AT
THE HEART
OF GOVERNMENT
Influencing Ministers and Officials
8. The Council is the Prime Minister's Council
for Science and Technology. It most recently met Prime Minister
Gordon Brown in December 2008 to advise on infrastructure
issues, public engagement and dialogue, and innovation policy.
CST had previously met Tony Blair in November 2005 and June
2006 where the discussion covered energy policy, public engagement,
ways of connecting the UK services sectors to the Science base,
and the need for an active R&D-based public procurement policy.
The last two topics contributed to the increased emphases on services
sectors in innovation policy analysis and the introduction of
the Small Business Research Initiative by Government.
9. The Council has developed an extremely close
and productive relationship with DIUS Ministers, in particular
with John Denham and Lord Drayson, where all sides recognise the
importance of CST as an advisory body providing independent advice
to Government.
10. It is important that the Council gets traction
within Government for its advice and recommendations. The recent
meeting with the Prime Minister has placed CST firmly on the No.
10 radar. The focus for science, technology and innovation
within DIUS has meant that CST's impact and profile with Ministers
has risen, compared to earlier arrangements where the Council
was an advisory body located within a much larger department,
the Department of Trade and Industry—where CST, and indeed
science, technology and innovation, was one component of a much
bigger whole. Having sponsor Ministers within Government departments
for each CST project should mean that there is immediate and direct
engagement with the department which will be taking forward the
Council's recommendations.
11. While CST is well-known and influential
in certain sections of Government—particularly those departments
where science and technology are core components—getting
traction for the Council more widely across Government has been
rather patchy, and CST is actively considering ways in which this
can be improved.
12. Given that the Council's remit is to
give independent advice to Government, it is also important that
CST has traction with, and influences, top officials within Whitehall
as well as Government Ministers. The Council and its secretariat
have developed close links in particular with the No. 10 Strategy
Unit, and with senior officials across Government departments,
for example at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform, HM Treasury, the Department of Health, the Department
of Transport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs. Following recent machinery of Government changes, CST
will be developing its relationship with the Department of Energy
and Climate Change. Departmental Chief Scientific Advisors, and
the Chief Scientific Advisors' Committee (CSAC) chaired by Professor
John Beddington, are an important group of interlocutors—both
collectively and individually—with whom CST engages extensively,
as projects are being defined and during their execution. The
Council also has a very extensive interaction with the Technology
Strategy Board.
CST's networks in the science and engineering
community
13. The Council recognises that in order
to influence effectively Government policy, the members themselves
need to use their extensive range of networks at the highest levels
of business, academia and medical charities. This means the CST
can draw on, and in turn influence, the leading science and engineering
bodies such as the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering
and other professional organisations, the science base bodies
such as the Research Councils and RCUK,[107]
a broad range of universities themselves as well as groups such
as Universities UK,[108]
business organisations such as the CBI,[109]
and bodies such as the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Science
and Innovation Forum, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
and CoRWM.[110]
One example of the fruitfulness of these networks was the Council's
report on Strategic decision-making for technology policy
for which CST was able to draw on a broad range of external expertise
often at very short notice.
14. As part of their quarterly meetings, the
Council as a whole has invited a broad range of individuals for
discussions, including Government Ministers, Permanent Secretaries
and senior officials, the President of the Royal Society, Chief
Scientists, Chief Executives of the Research Councils, EU Commissioner
Potocnik, the Permanent Secretary at No. 10, members of the Business
Council for Britain and other senior business and Government representatives.
15. These more informal contacts have a
dual purpose. They provide opportunities for CST to influence
policy-making by more private input of advice to Ministers and
senior officials. At the same time they also are opportunities
where CST itself can, in discussion with others, develop thoughts
about the direction of its own work. On two occasions major projects
have been commissioned by Ministers as a result of these discussions.
At a dinner in December 2006 Alistair Darling, then Secretary
of State at the DTI, asked the CST to undertake a major piece
of work which resulted in the report on Strategic Decision
Making for Technology Policy. Similarly at another dinner
in November 2007 John Denham initiated discussion about CST
undertaking the project which resulted in the report How Academia
and Government can work together.
CST's impact and reach
16. The Council's view is that its impact
with Government and its wider stakeholders has grown significantly—and
particularly over the last two years—but that more still
needs to be done to ensure that its advice and recommendations
are being picked up and implemented consistently at the heart
of Government.
17. There are certainly instances where the Council's
influence is clear and direct, and others where it is indirect.
The Council, in its 2005 report on Personal Information[111],
was one of the first groups to highlight the need to balance very
carefully the improvements stemming from better use of IT systems
and the need to safeguard the privacy of personal information.
The report led to Government setting up a review looking into
the way personal information in the public and private sector
was shared and protected. The review, published in June 2008,
was carried out by CST member Sir Mark Walport (who had led the
CST project) and the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas.
18. The Council's review of the Government's
progress on Nanotechnology policy[112]
highlighted the need for more work on the toxicology, health and
environmental effects of nanomaterials to assess risks, reassure
the public and put in place regulation as necessary. It was influential
in the creation of a cross-Government group of Ministers on nanotechnology
with responsibility for the research base, innovation, health
and safety and the environment, to give strategic direction and
maintain commitment to the Government's programme of work. Following
the review, a number of actions were taken to address the Council's
recommendations: for example, the Department of Health committed
to providing £1.25 million over five years to support
the health-related research, and in February 2008 the Ministerial
group issued a statement on what was needed to ensure the responsible
development of nanotechnologies.
19. The launch of the Sciencewise Expert
Resource Centre for Public Dialogue in Science and Technology
was in direct response to the Council's recommendation to create
a corporate memory of engagement practice in its Policy through
dialogue report.
20. John Denham has accepted the recommendations
of CST's recent report How academia and Government can work
together, which he commissioned in February 2008 as a
component of the Higher Education Debate. The Government Office
for Science is in the lead in taking forward the Council's recommendations.
As an example of the extent of the CST's reach during this project,
formulating the evidence base involved discussions with over 50 leading
individuals and organisations from both academia and Government.
21. During 2007 Alistair Darling, when
he was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, asked CST to
identify a small number of crucial technologies which Government
should focus on over the next five years. The Council's report
on Strategic decision-making for technology policy highlighted
six key technologies, which included a case study on Plastic Electronics,
which helped raise the profile of this whole area, not least through
the IUSS Select Committee report on Engineering, where CST members
were called to give evidence.
22. Further details on the range of projects
which CST has undertaken are at Annex C.
CST's public profile
23. The Council has consciously not sought
a high public profile through the media or elsewhere. Nevertheless,
a number of CST's reports have had significant press coverage—for
example the report on Personal Information, which was picked
up by Channel 4 News and Newsnight and in the
press more generally; and the Council's Nanotechnology policy
which had widespread press coverage including on the Today
programme.
CST's current programme
24. The Council is currently undertaking a project
on Water supply technologies and is also starting to develop
an overarching project on National infrastructure. The
latter is at a very early stage of development but has received
very positive support in discussions with the Prime Minister,
DIUS Ministers, and officials. It will draw both on the expertise
developed through the current project on Water supply technologies,
and on an earlier project on An electricity supply strategy
for the UK.
25. The Water technologies project is
investigating the level of research and development within the
water sector and considering what more could be done to stimulate
innovation, as well as looking at best practice in the use of
technology.
26. CST will also be looking to return to
a project on Cross-disciplinary research where the Council
is investigating mechanisms to encourage cross-disciplinary research
and development (R&D), in the UK and abroad, including the
identification of good practice that can be applied more widely
to promote cross-disciplinary R&D.
27. CST has also recently undertaken a forward
planning exercise for potential future projects, which involved
not only informal discussion with Ministers and senior officials,
but also a meeting with a panel of experts drawn from elsewhere
in government and from Learned Societies, who were asked to scrutinise
initial ideas and give feedback. This exercise is illustrative
of CST's ways of working, drawing on networks of support and advice,
which are freely given to the Government's most senior advisory
body for science and technology.
January 2009
105 Dame Janet is Vice-Chancellor of Keele University
Back
106
See for example the CST's response to: the consultation on the
review of UK health research (the Cooksey Review); the reform
of higher education research assessment and funding; and the consultation
on revising the regulatory impact assessment, all of which are
available on the CST website Back
107
Research Councils UK, the umbrella organisation of Chief Executives
of the Research Councils Back
108
Comprising Vice-Chancellors of UK universities Back
109
The Confederation of British Industry Back
110
The Committee for Radioactive Waste Management Back
111
CST's report: Better use of personal information: opportunities
and risks Back
112
CST's report: Nanosciences and nanotechnologies: a review of Government's
progress on its policy commitments Back
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