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Putting science and engineering at the heart of government policy
A report that considers the broad issue of why science and engineering are important and why they should be at the heart of Government policy. It also considers three more specific issues: the debate on strategic priorities; the principles that inform science funding decisions; and, the scrutiny of science and engineering across Government.
Bridging the Valley of Death
There exists the concept of a valley of death that prevents the progress of science from the laboratory bench to the point where it provides the basis of a commercially successful business or product. The future success of the UK economy has been linked to the success of translating a world class science base to generate new businesses with the consequent generation of UK jobs and wealth. A troubling feature of technology companies in the UK is how many are acquired by foreign owners where the subsequent jobs and wealth are generated outside the UK. It is key that the Government ensure that sufficient capital is available and recommended that the proposed bank for business, possibly in partn...
The impact of spending cuts on science and scientific research
The pressure to be seen to be making cuts across the public sector is threatening to undermine both the Government's good record on investment in science and the economic recovery. Whilst the contribution of a strong domestic science base is widely acknowledged, methodological problems with quantifying its precise value to the economy mean that it is in danger of losing out in Whitehall negotiations. Scientists are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the impact of their work and there is concern that areas without immediate technology applications are being undervalued. The Committee believes the Government faced a strategic choice: invest in areas with the greatest potential to influence and improve other areas of spending, or make cuts of little significance now, but that will have a devastating effect upon British science and the economy in the years to come.
Progress Towards the Knowledge Driven Economy
The 1998 White Paper 'Our competitive future: building the knowledge based economy' (CM 4176 ISBN 0101417624) proposed a ten year programme to enable the UK to close the productivity gap by exploiting the potential benefits of a modern knowledge driven economy. More than six years on, this report is a review of the progress that has been made. The topics covered include: UK performance since 1998; the development of new products, processes and services; science and knowledge research bases; knowledge transfer and exploitation; information and communication technologies, competition from low-cost economies. One of the conclusions is that although the UK's science and knowledge research bases and businesses are collaborating more frequently, the performance in knowledge exploitation has been disappointing and the relative position of the UK against the rest of the G7 has remained unchanged. Another conclusion is that although there is some evidence that outsourcing abroad can be beneficial, the Government should keep the trend under review in case there are strategic loses.
The Draft Apprenticeships Bill
Apprenticeships have a long history and are widely recognised as a powerful form of learning. Not all young people thrive in a school or college environment: some find the world of work more stimulating and a better place to learn. The Committee welcomes much of the Government's policy in seeking to raise the standards of apprenticeships, including some of the measures contained within the Draft Apprenticeships Bill. They are not convinced, however, that legislation is strictly necessary to achieve this. The real bite in the Draft Bill lies in the duty to be placed on the Learning and Skills Council (and, in due course, successor bodies), to secure the availability of apprenticeship places f...
Uk Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (Ukcmri)
The Science and Technology Committee today agrees with, and commends, the scientific vision for the new UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, but expresses reservations about the project's location. It says the case for the centre's central London location near St Pancras station was not overwhelming and it could have been sited elsewhere. The advantages of co-location with universities and hospitals and access to good transport links, which the Committee accepts play a fundamental role in the centre's vision, come at a price: extra construction costs; a site incapable of expansion; and the concentration of medical sciences in the 'golden triangle' in the south of England. On the is...
Setting priorities for publicly funded research
In its report into how priorities are set for publicly funded research, the Science and Technology Committee calls on the Government to make a clear and unambiguous statement setting out their research funding commitments and the periods of time over which those commitments apply.
Sessional returns
On cover and title page: House, committees of the whole House, general committees and select committees
Setting Priorities for Publicly Funded Research: 3rd Report of Session 2009-10
In its report into how priorities are set for publicly funded research, the Science and Technology Committee calls on the Government to make a clear and unambiguous statement setting out their current research funding commitments and the periods of time over which those commitments will apply. Decisions about funding priorities are complex and require careful judgement about the deployment of funds between competing priorities. The Committee concludes that, in the current policy framework, there is a lack of oversight of the total spend on research which is needed to enable the Government to make coherent, well-founded decisions about the use of public funds to support research. The Committe...
