Select committee: Science and Technology Committee
Recommendation 48
1st Report - “Science and technology superpower”: more than a slogan?
Published 4 Aug 2022
Paragraph 117
Science and Technology Committee Delivering a UK science and technology strategy All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government must explain how it will address any cultural risk aversion in the UK. It needs to set out its own approach to risk when it comes to public money. It should adopt a portfolio approach to risky investments, supported by appropriate expert input, and it must acknowledge that some failed ventures are an inevitable part of the process.
From: Science and Technology Committee, 1st Report - “Science and technology superpower”: more than a slogan?, paragraph 117, 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.