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Departments are responsible for funding and carrying out the science they need to support their policy and regulatory activities. It is also essential for departments to ensure that they have an effective advisory process which allows decision makers access to a high quality and wide-ranging evidence base, both within and outside government, ensuring that existing evidence is drawn upon. The environment in which Ministers must make decisions is continually changing. Therefore individual departments need to ensure that they have adequate processes for:
- horizon scanning and its results to be appropriately considered and acted upon when necessary;
- working in close collaboration with other departments on cross-cutting issues to ensure the timely provision and exchange of information;
- publishing the results of research and other data relating to an issue as early as possible to enable expert groups to provide a check on advice going to government; and,
- quality assurance and peer review to maintain public confidence in the government’s use of science and other evidence.
In general, the processes that departments have in place for this, work well but there are concerns that standards and practices vary from department to department more than can be justified by the particular circumstances of the individual departments.
To address this one of the GSCA’s roles is to advise the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on the overall health of science in Government departments. The Science Reviews help the GCSA carry out this role; including identifying and disseminating good practice across government departments.
