Science Advisers (Hansard, 23 July 2002)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)
My Lords, the Government's paper, Investing in innovation: A Strategy for science, engineering and technology was published today. Not only does it give details of the increase in funding for the science budget from £2.1 billion this year to 184 £2.9 billion in 2005–06; it also sets out the measures we shall be taking to improve the way that government departments obtain and use research and scientific advice.
In the future, departments which use or commission a significant amount of scientific research will need to appoint a chief scientific adviser. Departments will also be required to cost their science and innovation strategies, which should include their knowledge transfer objectives, and to have policies covering the professional development and career progression of their practising scientists. In addition, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser will introduce a rolling programme of external scrutiny and benchmarking of the arrangements departments have in place for using science and managing research.

§ Lord Hoyle
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that detailed and informative reply. I welcome the proposal he has outlined. Can he describe in more detail what is the exact job description for the scientific advisers in each department?

§ Lord Sainsbury of Turville
My Lords, I knew that it would be a mistake to keep my first response so short. Of course a number of major departments already have chief scientific advisers. We envisage their role very much as a part of the top management team. They bring a different perspective to senior management decisions and they direct departmental research programmes. Most important, they provide points of contact with the outside scientific community. Over recent years we have seen how vital is that kind of contact. Furthermore, we shall make it clear that the chief scientific advisers are to be in charge of the continuous professional development of the scientists within their departments.

§ Baroness Platt of Writtle
My Lords, what are the Department for Education and Skills and the learning and skills councils doing to ensure that careers information teachers and advisers are sufficiently experienced and qualified to encourage more young people to take up careers in science and engineering? No doubt the noble Lord would expect me to say, "Girls as well as boys".

§ Lord Sainsbury of Turville
My Lords, a series of programmes have that as their central role. It is also important to note that the new Council for Science and Technology has allowed us to embark on a process of rationalising all the information being published by institutes and other bodies so that the careers information being sent to schools is produced in a simple form that teachers can use, as opposed to the enormous amount of literature they currently receive which, according to our recent studies, is simply being thrown away. We are acting on that point through the Engineering and Technology Board.
The second programme I should mention is the science and engineering ambassadors schemes which seek to ensure that schoolchildren understand exactly what careers in science and technology are all about.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, does the Minister agree that science education in schools would be helped greatly if more teachers were teaching the subject because that was the one they had been trained to teach? Teachers are being asked to teach subjects for which they have not been trained.

§ Lord Sainsbury of Turville
My Lords, I agree totally with the noble Baroness. It is of fundamental importance to education that those teaching the science subjects are appropriately qualified. It is a matter of great concern that, for example, a considerable number of people teaching physics in our schools do not have a qualification in the subject. That is a source of great worry.
This problem was addressed in the Roberts report. We are looking at increasing funding in the area to ensure that we recruit more scientists and technologists. However, we are recruiting in an area where people can take other jobs that are reasonably well paid. We are tackling the issue which, as I have said, was addressed both in the Roberts report and in the paper I referred to in my original Answer.

§ Baroness Sharp of Guildford
My Lords, I welcome the reply given by the Minister to the Question of the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle. It is good that there will now be scientific advisers in more departments. What co-ordination will there be among those scientific advisers? Has the Chief Scientific Adviser in his own department—who has been called the Chief Government Scientist—had a degree of de facto responsibility for co-ordinating effort between departments? If so, will this continue?

§ Lord Sainsbury of Turville
My Lords, the Chief Scientific Adviser has a committee on which sit the chief scientists of each department or their representatives. That has been quite effective in co-ordinating certain issues. The whole purpose of these measures is to ensure greater quality control by the Chief Scientific Adviser of the work being carried out in government departments. That will be achieved in two ways. First, in future he will be involved in the appointment of the chief scientific officers in each department to ensure that there is proper quality control; and, secondly, as I mentioned, he will carry out a peer review of the science undertaken in each government department. He will have a considerable degree of ability to maintain quality within government departments.