Section Menu

Eight Attributes

As lessons learned, and good practice emerges from the creation of Science Reviews and Science and Innovation Assessments, government departments will become increasingly sophisticated in their management of science and research, and their use of expert knowledge.

Advances in this area will culminate in meeting government departments' visions for the management of science and research across government as set out in the 10-Year Framework.

1. The Government as a whole, and all Government departments, will have adopted a culture of using sound scientific advice to inform policy development, delivery and departmental decision-making. This should involve DCSAs in all major departments with direct access to Ministers and departmental managers, and with departmental managers involving DCSAs on all major policy issues, not just those with obvious scientific aspects.

2. All scientific work commissioned and used by Government will be of appropriately high quality, drawn from the best possible sources (including the science base and the private sector), commanding the confidence of Government Ministers and officials. Government departments will be paying the full economic costs of the research they commission from universities.

3. Priorities for research will be set at the strategic level, not just within departments as they are now, but also across government as a whole, taking account, for example, of the 2003 Strategic Audit from the Cabinet Office. CSAs - acting as a group - along with other bodies, such as the Council for Science and Technology, will provide advice on the prioritisation of strategic issues. The use of science in policymaking will be applied consistently across the board where an issue affects more than one department.

4. All Government departments will be using sophisticated scientific horizon-scanning techniques, linked both to their own policy horizon scanning, that of other departments, and to the OSI horizon-scanning centre. This should involve departments drawing upon the science base to ensure they are informed about future risks and opportunities. Cross-departmental science initiatives, such as the Foresight programme and Prime Minister's Strategy Unit work, should develop and disseminate best practice guidelines and should provide capacity to deal with selected issues, working closely with other departments.

5. Scientific expertise will be used to the maximum effect possible, allowing greater use of Research Council, charity and private sector input to Government advice, and giving Government scientists greater opportunities to contribute to the work of the science base and the exploitation of their work in the wider community, industry and commerce. Analysts, including scientists, will be able to network more effectively - within their own department, across departments, Research Councils, the private sector and internationally - to ensure awareness not just of research results already generated but also active research underway elsewhere.

6. Knowledge transfer objectives will be fully incorporated into departments' S&I strategies, and scientific advice on procurement in Government departments will be seen as a natural and logical means of pulling through the development of new technologies.

7. The use of scientific knowledge will have been fully integrated into Government analytical and risk assessment processes, and risk assessment guidance will be consistent with the advice in Guidelines 2000 (now Guidelines 2005). Science will be regarded as one of the key analytical inputs to decisions along with specialisms like economics, law and statistics, with policy staff at all levels aware of the need to seek scientific advice - in the same way as they incorporate economic and legal advice.

8. Scientific advice for the Government will be generated in a fully inclusive manner and command the support of the public and other stakeholders. Scientists, including Government scientists, will have the training and willingness to communicate openly with the public, including through the media. Politicians and the public will understand what science and research can and cannot deliver, in particular that science and analysis will provide information and knowledge to those who must take decisions, but that it is for politicians and for the public to take the decisions themselves.