SR2002/X3
15 July 2002
Boost for science and innovation
The 2002 Spending Review provides a further major boost to science, engineering and technology increasing spending on science by one and a quarter billion pounds in 2005-06 compared to 2002-03. It accelerates the real growth in resources for the Office of Science and Technology Science Budget to an average of 10 per cent a year over the next three years, increasing from the 7 per cent delivered by the 2000 Spending Review.
This £1¼ billion a year increase comprises increases in the Office of Science and Technology Science (OST) Budget, increases in DfES recurrent funding for research, capital funding for science infrastructure and additional funding to be spent in schools to implement the key recommendations of Sir Gareth Roberts' review to improve the flow of the most highly skilled scientists and engineers into the economy.
The Science Budget, delivered through the Office of Science and Technology, will increase from £2.0 billion in 2002-03 to £2.9 billion by 2005-06. This includes an extra £400 million over this period to fund an expansion in science and engineering research activities. The Government is also providing a substantial injection of £100 million a year by 2005-06 via the Science Budget to improve the flow of the most highly skilled scientists and engineers into the economy, responding positively to the key recommendations of Sir Gareth Roberts' review of this issue. Further to these additions to the Science Budget, which are managed by the DTI's Office of Science and Technology, the 2002 Spending Review allows for complementary increases for DfES spending on research.
Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, said:
"Innovation lies at the heart of our drive to improve the UK's productivity, and underpins manufacturing excellence. It relies crucially on a vibrant flow of skills and ideas from our science base, both universities and research institutes. Our new spending plans demonstrate our continuing commitment to restore the long term health of the UK's research infrastructure. It enables UK scientists and engineers to build on their world class research programmes and move into newly promising areas. To secure the future health of UK innovation, we are investing across the education system to attract talented individuals to science and engineering."
These substantial boosts to resources for science, engineering and technology will:
- move the research base onto a sustainable long term footing, by providing a dedicated capital funding stream, increasing to £500 million a year by 2004-05 for universities' science research infrastructure, and providing an additional £120 million a year from 2005-06 to the Research Councils to increase their contribution to the costs of research projects undertaken in universities;
- increase resources for science and engineering research programmes by £400 million a year by 2005-06 (compared to 2002-03), an average rise of 5 per cent per year in real terms;
- increase resources for knowledge transfer from the science base from £64 million in 2002-03 to £114 million in 2005-06 (including £20 million per year from DfES), with £90 million per year by 2005-06 for a newly enlarged Higher Education Innovation Fund. This will be complemented by rising resources (an extra £50 million by 2005-06) for DTI's programmes to stimulate business innovation; and
- provide for an additional investment by the Office of Science and Technology of £100 million a year by 2005-06 (in addition to extra resources for DfES) to ensure a strong future supply of skilled scientists and engineers to take forward the key recommendations of Sir Gareth Roberts' Review. Measures include attracting students in schools and universities to science through improved pay and training for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, as well as better teaching and research facilities.
To complement this programme of resources and reform from the Government, the Wellcome Trust is committing an additional £280 million over the next 5 years for complementary funding across the range of shared priorities to support new programmes of science research and improved training for science teachers. This follows the major contributions of the Wellcome Trust to research infrastructure funding in the previous two Spending Reviews.
The Government will set out its strategy for science, engineering and technology in a document to be published shortly. This will demonstrate how the additional resources provided by the Spending Review will be used to boost the UK's innovation performance and its contribution to productivity growth.
Notes for editors
1. The Government conducted a comprehensive review of public services - the Comprehensive Spending Review - in 1998. The 2000 Spending Review built on this by setting targets and allocating resources for the three years to 2003-04. The 2002 Spending Review revises these plans for 2003-04 and outlines new plans for 2004-05 and 2005-06.
2. The following table sets out the new spending figures for ringfenced Science Budget, managed by the DTI's Office of Science and Technology.
Science Budget £ million | 2002-3 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| Resource Budget | 1,988 | 2,246 | 2,458 | 2,791 |
| Capital Budget | 104 | 131 | 207 | 205 |
| Total Departmental Expenditure Limit1 | 2,006 | 2,285 | 2,570 | 2,899 |
1Full resource budgeting basis, net of depreciation. |
3. These figures are consistent with the DTI's overall spending settlement, as highlighted in the Department's 2002 Spending Review press notice. The DfES 2002 Spending Review press notice sets out the additional resources for teaching and higher education, which allows for complementary increases for recurrent DfES spending on research.
4. The figure of one and a quarter billion pounds, used to describe the increase in science spending between 2002-03 and 2005-06, consists of £890 million for the OST Science Budget, the major part of £244 million extra for DfES recurrent spending on research (of which, based on historic trends, at least 80% could be expected to be spent on science), at least £100 million through DfES to implement recommendations of the Roberts Review and £50 million through DfES for science research infrastructure.
5. Sir Gareth Roberts' report on the supply of scientists and engineers, SET for Success, was published on 15 April. Copies are available at: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/roberts. Sir Gareth Roberts is President of the Science Council and President of Wolfson College, Oxford.
6. For further details please contact the DTI Press Office on 020 7215 6403 or visit the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk/Srlink.