§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will establish a unified science strategy for the UK. [37750]
§ Ms HewittThe Science and Innovation White Paper—"Excellence and Opportunity: A science and innovation policy for the 21" century"—was published in July 2000. It set out the Government's strategy for building on the UK's record of scientific excellence, and for ensuring that the outputs from scientific research are harnessed in innovative products and services that will yield economic and social benefits for the people of the UK.
One of the commitments in the White Paper was that each Government Department should publish a science and innovation strategy setting out the broad framework within which science and technology are used to meet its policy objectives. These science and innovation strategies, with complementary material from the Research Councils and the devolved Administrations, were the theme for "The Forward Look 2001 of Government-funded science, engineering and technology", published in December 2001, which provides an overview of the Government's approach to the use of science and technology and priorities for expenditure.
The Government have also established a new Cabinet Ministerial Committee on Science Policy, which I chair, to look across the board at the Government's policies in relation to scientific advances and the public's acceptance of them.