Independent review
Research, Development and Innovation Organisational Landscape: An Independent Review
Government response
The government responded to the review on 22 November 2023.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.
The government welcomes the Nurse Review and sets out a "clear direction of travel" and short-term actions as a first step, with longer-term reform to follow in consultation with the sector.
- On diversifying organisational models, the government commits to enhance DSIT's Research and Innovation Intelligence capabilities and to support a National Academy for mathematical sciences, with up to £6m of seed funding "subject to business case".
- On public sector research organisations, the government commits to a long-term national plan for RDI infrastructure and a further £25 million funding round, and to "exploring" a sustainable source of funding for PSREs doing UKRI grant research.
- On research funding, the government "notes" the Review's discussion of the 80% full Economic Cost policy, says any restructuring would involve "significant trade-offs", and will consider UKRI's findings on cost recovery "in due course".
- The government commits to a joint DSIT/UKRI metascience unit with an initial £10 million, and aims to publish its response to the Tickell bureaucracy review in early 2024.
About this review
Summary written by this siteIndependent review examining the mix of UK organisations performing research, development and innovation. Made 29 recommendations to strengthen the RDI landscape and improve the UK's scientific and economic performance.
Recommendations 29
Recommendation 1
Government should take account of the true cost of ‘end-to-end’ research activity to generate a sustainable RDI endeavour. Government, working with UKRI and the UK higher education funding bodies, should review and when necessary reform competitive and response-mode grant funding, QR (and Devolved Administration equivalents), and fEC, and replace them with improved mechanisms. Overall objectives should be to optimise research delivery, remove perverse incentives and outcomes, and ensure the longer-term sustainability of the research system.
Recommendation 2
Universities should develop plans to optimise their operations in support of research, to empower researchers and reduce their administrative loads, and to improve the quality of support services, core technical facilities, and well-found laboratory buildings and infrastructures. Government, working with UKRI, the UK higher education funding bodies and the wider sector, should consider more transparent mechanisms to provide assurance and accountability on QR funding.
Recommendation 3
Government departments should clarify the missions of their individual PSREs, allow them greater freedom of action, and ensure their effectiveness. Departments should improve internal awareness of PSREs' capabilities, and use PSREs to inform RDI strategy and policy making, working within and across departments. Permeability and agility would be further improved by increasing the visibility, interactions and partnerships between PSREs, and between PSREs and the rest of the RDI landscape, including commercial organisations.
Recommendation 4
Funding streams for PSREs need to be protected and reformed to ensure long-term sustainability. Constraints, which appear to have their origins in the Treasury, over funding, pay and other conditions of working should be reduced. The reforms of funding proposed for the universities should also be applied to PSREs.
Recommendation 5
PSREs should be stringently reviewed, and those that have outlived their purpose or are not working effectively should be reformed, reduced or closed, and any savings generated recycled into Government R&D budgets.
Recommendation 6
Institutes and units need sustained financial support, including un-hypothecated funding, to ensure ‘end-to-end’ research support. The funding arrangements of recently established institutes and units, particularly the ‘hub and spoke’ models, must be reviewed to make sure that they are fit for purpose. The reforms of funding proposed for the universities should also take account of the needs of institutes and units.
Recommendation 7
Institutes and units need a well-defined mission and purpose, and should be given the autonomy and funding necessary to achieve their objectives, which may be time limited. There need to be clear and agreed mechanisms by which institutes and units can be adapted, reduced or closed when necessary.
Recommendation 8
Institutes and units must have high quality administrative as well as scientific leadership. They generally benefit from being co-located with other RPOs, but if their overall administration is the responsibility of another co-located or funding organisation, rigorous contractual arrangements must be in place to ensure independence of operation and quality of service.
Recommendation 9
New research institutes and units should be considered when strategic RDI priorities best supported by focused research missions are identified by Government, UKRI and other funders. Possible examples include enhanced activities in climate change and its mitigation, antimicrobial resistance, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence. Themes should be identified through mapping and reviewing, taking account of emerging technologies, scientific areas, and Government priorities. Pre-existing institutes and units could be merged and expanded to create new institutes, and consideration should be given to co-location and co-funding with other RPOs. Establishment of new institutes and units should follow the principles outlined in the Review.
Recommendation 10
Government and the charitable sector should work together to ensure that ‘end-to-end’ funding is provided for research supported by philanthropy.
Recommendation 11
Support for research undertaken by galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and the heritage and cultural sectors should be increased, and support for long-neglected collections-based research put in place.
Recommendation 12
Coherence between translational research organisations, including those embedded within other RPOs, and the rest of the landscape should be increased. Government is advised to optimise translational research organisations by increasing their number, widening access and promoting the benefits of translational research capability, including regionally. Government should explore routes by which RPOs across the RDI landscape, including PSREs, can contribute to translational activities.
Recommendation 13
Government should use its convening power to create a favourable environment for business to invest in RDI, tackling causes identified by this Review as holding back further business investment, and where expedient, providing financial support. Examples of such support are funding which leverages private investment or promotes collaboration between industry and the rest of the RDI landscape.
Recommendation 14
To understand the benefits of RDI for commercial activities and the economy, a culture change promoting openness, mutual respect, closer interaction, collaboration, and permeability of ideas, technologies and people has to occur in both business and academia. Government has a role in conveying the benefits of RDI investment to businesses, shareholders and academia, embracing practices from countries with high business RDI investment rates. Mechanisms to deliver this should be explored and implemented.
Recommendation 15
Government should take particular responsibility for driving RDI that provides societal benefit as well as economic growth. Examples are health care delivery, equitable regional economic growth throughout the UK, and the delivery of net zero. Where appropriate, public-private partnerships should be encouraged.
Recommendation 16
Government and RPOs should partner with local communities to support RDI relevant to their needs, to bring about more equitable regional economic growth based on local expertise and demands and driven by community benefit as well as academic criteria. Universities and other RPOs should support their local community and economy by enhancing their role as an information nexus and by helping local industries link to research capabilities wherever they are in the UK.
Recommendation 17
There is an urgent problem with the current mechanisms for clinician scientists to effectively develop and undertake their research careers. The Government, taking into account devolved competencies, must rectify this to both improve the ability of the NHS to deliver more effective health care and to help the UK economy.
Recommendation 18
Government must work with UKRI and the wider RDI community to consider more stable and properly costed funding structures, aimed at ensuring the quality of the existing landscape and its sustainability.
Recommendation 19
Government must increase its long-term commitment to invest more in RDI. In addition to reviewing incentives in public funding for university research, Government should review the balance of funding across the landscape, and explore how planned increases in RDI public funding can provide more un-hypothecated core funding for RPOs to allow them to deliver their mission more effectively, to promote collaboration and interaction across RDI sectors, and to empower local RPO leadership and researchers.
Recommendation 20
Government should ensure that international collaboration is protected and encouraged, and should resolve problems damaging the UK RDI landscape’s international links. This is particularly relevant to our close scientific collaborators in the EU, and it is essential that the UK associates with Horizon Europe. Government should take action, including consultation with devolved administrations, if its broader policy objectives on areas such as immigration, ODA and education are hindering wider objectives for long-term RDI policy.
Recommendation 21
The UK should consider opportunities to host new intergovernmental multinationally funded institutes and international research infrastructures.
Recommendation 22
DSIT should define the overall architecture and governance for cross-Government RDI policy, setting out accountabilities from Cabinet and below. This should include the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), as well as other key RDI spending departments, UKRI and other funders, to ensure roles are complementary, and to improve alignment on policies.
Recommendation 23
From Cabinet level downwards, all interested parties in Government must take responsibility for the high level and effective safeguarding of the future success of the UK RDI landscape. This oversight should include an authoritative working group set up by DSIT, operating across Government, the RPOs and the funding organisations, which will take long-term responsibility for implementation of the recommendations of this Review.
Recommendation 24
Government should establish a research vision and strategy including long-term programmatic, infrastructure and technological initiatives, which is especially relevant at the applied end of the research spectrum. This will give RPOs, investors and global companies the confidence to invest, operate and interact with the UK RDI landscape.
Recommendation 25
Government needs to develop effective mapping of UK RDI, covering the missions, financial investment in different sectors, research capabilities, and locations of RPOs, and also monitor international RDI activities to identify successful features and models. DSIT, working with UKRI and other interests across Government, could carry out this function. An agreed shared picture of the RDI landscape should be produced, together with a commitment to regularly update it.
Recommendation 26
Government should increase efforts to link the different elements of the UK RDI landscape together with the commercial, industrial and societal components that benefit from research. To spread the benefits of research through communities across the UK, partnerships, collaborations and interactions must be built so that all components are mutually aware, and permeable with respect to ideas, information, technologies and people.
Recommendation 27
Government must replace frequent, repetitive, and multi-layered reporting and audit by Government departments and UKRI with a culture of confidence and earned trust, as also referenced by the Independent Review of Research Bureaucracy. Reporting and reviewing of RPOs should focus on the quality and appropriateness of the research being carried out. The framework by which ARIA will operate should be applied to other components of the RDI landscape.
Recommendation 28
Public sector controls which reduce the agility and performance of RPOs need to be reformed. Salaries must be internationally competitive. Where Government-imposed pay limitations are damaging the mission of an RPO, they must be revised, and the decision-making mechanisms made more flexible.
Recommendation 29
Government should ensure that there is a well-trained RDI workforce available at all levels, and long-term educational planning to ensure a future pipeline of researchers and technicians. Career pathways for those roles that underpin effective research delivery, including technicians and project and programme managers, should be strengthened so the importance of these roles is better recognised. Training and career structures for early career researchers, including PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and starting faculty, need to be reviewed and reformed. Career path diversity and permeability between different RPOs should be encouraged.
All text above is the review's.
No recommendations have this response.