Select committee: Science and Technology Committee
Conclusion 36
1st Report - “Science and technology superpower”: more than a slogan?
Published 4 Aug 2022
Paragraph 85
Science and Technology Committee Delivering a UK science and technology strategy All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The civil service needs more science capability, not just in specialist roles and not only by direct employment. It needs effective processes for drawing on outside expertise. The Government acknowledges the need for more scientists in the civil service and the ambition that we heard from Sir Patrick Vallance to approach 50 per cent of science and engineering graduates for recruitment to the civil service generalist fast stream is welcome. This target needs regular monitoring and reporting.
From: Science and Technology Committee, 1st Report - “Science and technology superpower”: more than a slogan?, paragraph 85, 4 August 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 March 2023 (deadline 3 March 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees that science and technology are essential to the UK's future and points to the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as its main response, while accepting some recommendations and not others.
- On strategy and metrics, it agrees that "policy coherence is essential" and says it is "considering how best to monitor progress", "with the aim of capturing measurable indicators across key priority areas".
- On the Own-Collaborate-Access framework, it says it is analysing which technologies should be priorities and "will set these out in the near future".
- On the National Science and Technology Council, it "has noted" the Committee's recommendations on publishing details of committee discussions, and states that it is "a long-established precedent" that such information "is not normally shared publicly".
- On departmental research funding, it states that it "does not accept that there is a risk" of duplicating UKRI funding, and says departments need not update their areas of research interest annually.