Select committee: Science and Technology Committee
Conclusion 45
1st Report - “Science and technology superpower”: more than a slogan?
Published 4 Aug 2022
Paragraph 116
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 Government wants to use public procurement to encourage the development and deployment of new technologies, but has not identified the technologies that will be supported. Value for money rules governing expenditure of public money are vital, but they do not always work for investments in developing companies and technologies: risk is inherent in the process and benefits may accrue only in the long-term.
From: Science and Technology Committee, 1st Report - “Science and technology superpower”: more than a slogan?, paragraph 116, 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.