Update from DEFRA on progress in Implementing
the Recommendations accepted by the Government in its response
to the Science and Technology Committee's report into Investigating
the Oceans
(a) Progress in
establishing the new Co-ordinating Committee, including work programme,
membership, decisions over funding and achievements to date
The MSCC met for the first time on Thursday
17 July 2008. Minutes of the meeting are attached. At that first
meeting the Committee considered a paper from the MSCC Planning
Group entitled Establishing the New Marine Science Co-ordination
Committee. A copy is attached for reference.
The main conclusions of that first meeting can
be summarised as follows:
— It was agreed that the Committee's
primary responsibilities are firstly to develop and implement
the UK Marine Science Strategy, and secondly to improve UK marine
science co-ordination.
— The MSCC will develop and adopt a
five year business plan. The main focus of the Committee's work
over the coming year will be the development and adoption of the
Strategy
— The Chairmanship of MSCC will be
held jointly between Scottish Government and Defra, with full
MSCC meetings held as required, probably twice a year.
— The MSCC Secretariat needs to be
staffed by a team with key skills such as customer engagement,
project management, science and policy writing as well as organisational
ability. It will require strong leadership over the first 18 months
during which the Strategy and Business Plan will be developed.
— On 15 October Defra's Central Approval
Panel approved a budget of £600k to cover the costs of the
secretariat for the next 18 months, including the development
of the strategy.
— The MSCC will develop a number of
working groups to help take forward the Committee's business,
and these will involve wider stakeholder involvement.
— The scope and structure of the UK
marine science strategy was broadly agreed and is as set out in
the MSCC minutes (see paragraph 3.2).
(b) A detailed timetable for the drafting
and implementation of the marine science strategy
Under the MSCC's guidance the Secretariat will
take the lead in developing the strategy and the Committee's business
plan. Recruitment of staff to the Secretariat is now underway
in order to meet the deadline of publishing the strategy in the
second half of 2009.
(c) The impact of the recent machinery of
government changes on responsibility for marine science
When Defra's SoS met with the IUSS Committee
on the 22 April, he confirmed that Defra will provide the Ministerial
Lead for Marine Science and will chair a Group of Ministers, subject
to agreement from the develoved administrations. The creation
of the new department does not change Defra's leadership role
for marine science.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change
will be invited to become a member of MSCC. DECC will be a major
funder of the Hadley Centre and support the development of large
scale climate models that help predict global scale climate change
scenarios. Research into the impact of climate change on the marine
environment, at the UK level, remains with Defra.
November 2008
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