Advisory Board for the Research Councils (Hansard, 22 March 1984)

§ Sir Keith Joseph

I am today publishing the advice I received during 1983 from the Advisory Board for the Research Councils, and my correspondence with Sir David Phillips the chairman; I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. That advice includes a careful discussion of the case for greater selectivity in our priorities for research and of the corresponding need to keep under review the competing claims of current and new areas of scientific opportunity. As part of this process the board has proposed that, with the Science and Engineering Research Council, it should review United Kingdom participation in high energy particle physics. Without prejudice to the attitude the Government may take to the findings of the review and the board's subsequent advice I have informed Sir David 539W Phillips and Professor Kingman of my concurrence in their making the review; the text of my letter follows, together with details of the proposed terms of reference and membership of the review group.

21 March 1984

Dear David,

UK Participation in High Energy Particle Physics:

ABRC-SERC Review

In the advice of the ABRC that you submitted to me on behalf of the Board on 23 November 1983 you recorded the Board's intention to review, with the SERC, UK participation in high energy particle physics research. In recognition of the implications that such a review might have for our membership of CERN, to whose Convention the UK Government is a party, you and Professor Kingman kindly consulted me on your detailed proposals for the review, and sought assurances that the Government did not wish to circumscribe the review; and that any savings identified by the review would be available for redeployment elsewhere in the Science Budget.

I give the assurances you seek in recognition that they are fundamental to the exercise, as being concerned with the best value for money from a given level of resources for scientific research. Thus any proposal for redeployment of resources devoted by the UK to high energy particle physics would be made on the basis that there were higher priorities in other areas of science. While the level of the Science Budget for any future year will, of course, need to be considered in the light of all the circumstances at the time, I can say definitely that any such proposal to which the Government agreed would not be made an occasion for cutting the Science Budget as a whole.

I am content with your proposal that Sir John Kendrew should chair the Review Group, and with the membership you propose. I appreciated seeing the terms of reference that you have in mind. I think that it would be helpful if they were made public when the review is announced and with your agreement and that of Professor Kingman I will do this. I am content with what you envisage but I regard the precise final form as a matter for you and Professor Kingman to settle with Sir John Kendrew.

In giving these assurances and concurring in the review I am conscious that it is to be a review by, and for, ABRC and SERC, not a Government review. I need not emphasise, for you, the constitutional distinction between the Board's advice on a matter and what the Government may decide on that advice. This distinction is particularly important in respect of any change that might be proposed in our relations with CERN, of which the UK is a full and active member. Any change in that position would be a matter for Government, to be considered by due process and in consultation with other members; and any question of change lies beyond the report of the Review Group, and any advice on that the Board and SERC may choose to offer. For now, it is business as usual.

I am sure that the Review Group will approach their task in a positive and constructive spirit and with a full appreciation of what has been achieved in this field, particularly through international collaboration, and of its future potential.

I am sending a copy of this letter to Professor Kingman.

Yours sincerely,

Keith Joseph

Sir David Phillips

Chairman

Advisory Board for Research Councils

Elizabeth House

York Road

London SE1 7PH