107/02
18 October 2002
CROSS CUTTING REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND RESEARCH PUBLISHED
The Cross Cutting Review of science and research has been published today on the Treasury website. The review was conducted jointly by the Treasury, DTI and DfES and reported to Ministers in March 2002. It considered how to maximise the benefits provided by public spending on science and research to the UK’s economy and quality of life over the long term.
The review looked at science funding by the Office for Science and Technology/Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Education and Skills, and at research commissioned by all government departments. Its remit was:
- to review current funding mechanisms and levels, and to identify the priorities for resources across the funding streams held by the Office of Science and Technology and the Department for Education and Skills;
- to review current funding mechanisms for transferring the outputs of research from the science and engineering base to business and society more widely, and to identify priorities for future use of resources;
- to take stock of studies commissioned or reporting since the last Spending Review, and with potential implications for resources;
- to identify ways to improve the effectiveness and value for money of research commissioned by government departments, and to review how departments manage their research and put it to use more widely.
The Review’s conclusions were taken forward in some detail in the Government’s science strategy, ‘Investing in Innovation’, which was published on 23 July 2002. The review is now being published to complete the full analytical picture behind the development of the science strategy.
NOTES TO EDITORS
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On 25 June 2001, the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Smith, announced seven initial cross-cutting reviews to contribute to the Spending Review 2002. The Science and Research cross-cutting review included a review of funding of the UK science base, and the effectiveness of departments’ own science and research programmes to ensure that they deliver maximum long term benefits to the economy and quality of life.
- The Review drew on a number of sources, including visits to 16 universities across the UK, meetings and discussions with practitioners and opinion formers, reports, the Transparency Review, and various other published and unpublished information. On science in government departments, it drew on meetings with key Ministers and officials, departments’ science and innovation strategies, visits to Government laboratories, and many other discussions.
- The full text of the Cross Cutting Review of Science and Research can be accessed as a PDF on the HMT website
- See press release 71/02 23 July 2002, for more details on Investing in Innovation, the Government’s science strategy.
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