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Science Review Criteria

Rationale

To effectively manage science and research, departments should:

1. Develop a clear, overall science strategy
Departments should take a strategic approach to setting R&D budgets, and should publish science (or evidence) and innovation strategies that set out the broad framework within which research programmes and other science-related activities are carried out. This is an important step in linking research and development to the effective delivery of a department’s objectives and show how value for money is achieved.²

2. Horizon scan – to identify future science-related issues
Horizon scanning is defined as the systematic examination of potential threats, opportunities and likely future developments, which are at the margins of current thinking and planning. Horizon scanning may explore novel and unexpected issues, as well as persistent problems or trends. Departments should regularly undertake horizon scanning to improve the robustness of their evidence base and policies.

3. Review and harness existing science and identify gaps and opportunities for future research
To demonstrate value for money and effective use of resources, departments should have in place effective arrangements for deciding what current or potential science could benefit the department’s delivery of its objectives and hence whether new research is needed or where it would best be targeted. In particular, departments should actively manage existing knowledge, synthesise existing research, and work with Other Government Departments (OGDs) and the research bases in the UK and internationally.

4. Commission and manage new science [and]
5. Ensure the quality and relevance of the science they carry out and sponsor
As part of the drive for evidence-based policy and improved service delivery the Government needs to use, and be seen to use, high quality science and the most appropriate new technologies. Science programmes funded by Government departments make a very important contribution to policy formulation. Even though the outcomes of the science itself cannot always be predicted, departments must be able to commission the right science, assess its quality, and use it effectively. The credibility of departmental policy-making generally will be undermined if individual policies are perceived to be based on poor, or the wrong science.

6. Use science and scientific advice
Departments need scientific advice to underpin their policy making and regulatory activities. Such advice can be provided by external or internal experts, and / or informed by the output of research programmes commissioned by the department. There needs to be an effective communications bridge between the experts and the policy makers.

7. Publish results and debate their findings and implications openly
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act³ and to ensure robust interpretation of scientific findings and their policy implications, departments should publish and openly debate scientific results.

8. Share, transfer and manage knowledge⁴
Knowledge transfer should be treated by departments as a strategic goal and enjoy high-level focus.

9. Follow the Guidelines on Scientific advice and policy making⁵ and the Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees⁶
The Guidelines on Scientific Advice and Policy Making provides high-level high level guidance and were used in formulating these ten key criteria for the Science Reviews. Its key messages are that departments should:
• think ahead and identify early the issues on which they need scientific advice;
• get a wide range of advice from the best sources, particularly where there is scientific uncertainty; and,
• publish the scientific advice and all relevant papers.

The purpose of the Code of Practice is to provide more detailed guidance specifically focused on the operation of scientific advisory committees and their relationship with Government and to help them translate the principles in the Guidelines into day-to-day practice.

10. Use, maintain and develop scientific expertise (including both capacity and capability building)
Whether a department has its own dedicated research unit, or commissions work from outside organisations, it needs to ensure it has long-term access to experienced scientists who are able to understand and interpret issues at the science-policy interface, taking into account the full range of scientific opinion as appropriate.
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² Cross-Cutting Review of Science and Research: Final Report (March 2002), page 87, HM Treasury, Department of Education and Skills, Office of Science and Technology and Department of Trade and Industry.
³ http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts2000/20000036.htm
⁴ Including exploitation of intellectual property where appropriate.
⁵ Office of Science and Technology. Guidelines 2005: Scientific advice and policy making, October 2005
⁶ Office of Science and Technology. Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees, December 2001