Awareness in Government
6.18. As Minister, Ian Pearson of DIUS, wants
to be assured the Research Councils are paying sufficient attention
to the health of key disciplines (Q 283) but the Research
Councils are largely unaware of the widespread concern about the
state of health of systematic biology (Q 49). HEFCE does
not accept that the RAE is a key driver of the decline of minority
disciplines such as systematic biology but we have evidence to
the contrary. Lord Rooker at Defra has not heard noises about
the problematic state of systematic biology (Q 301) and concerns
about problems with the discipline have never been raised with
Mrs Hodge at DCMS (Q 298). This lack of awareness within
Government may reflect the difficulty that officials must have
in gaining an overview of an underpinning, infrastructural discipline
but, in our view, the result is that systematic biology appears
to be suffering the consequences of a situation where diffuse
responsibility results in no responsibility.
6.19. We recommend therefore that there should
be a lead department responsible for systematic biology
and that further, because the central issue is the state of health
of the discipline, we recommend that DIUS should take on that
role.