SUMMARY OF COUNCIL MEETING ON 5 JUNE 2000
Purpose
1. The Council met on 5 June 2000 to:
- Establish its programme of work during
2000/2001.
- Take stock of developments since the
publication on 7 March 2000 of its two most recent reports, 'Science
Teachers' and 'Technology Matters' on 7 March 2000.
- Consider
the second round of Foresight.
2. The Council also discussed the outcome of the Office of Science and Technology's consultation exercise on the sixth European Framework programme (FP6) and progress with the Science and Innovation White Paper, which is due to be published following completion of Spending Review 2000.
Attendees
3. In the absence of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Mr Stephen Byers, the meeting was chaired by the Minister for Science, Lord Sainsbury of Turville. The Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Robert May also attended as Deputy Chair of the Council. Dr John Taylor, Director General of the Research Councils was also present. The independent members present were:
Professor S Kumar Bhattacharyya, Professor Sir Alec Broers, Dr Chris Evans, Professor Julia Higgins, Dr David Potter and Ms Emma Rothschild. Mr Javaid Aziz, Mr Euan Baird, Professor Vicki Bruce, Sir Paul Nurse, Professor Peter Schuddeboom, Professor David VandeLinde and Mr John Weston attended the meeting for the first time as new members.
4. Mr Alan Ferries (Department of Culture, Media and Sport), Secretary of the Creative Industries Task Force, attended for the Council's discussion on their next programme of work.
5. Ms Julie Carney, Director of Foresight Directorate (Office of Science and Technology) also attended to give a presentation on the Foresight programme. Ms Carney was accompanied by Mr Martin Ridge (Foresight Directorate), Sir Michael Peckham (Chairman of the Foresight Health Panel) and Professor John Woods (Chairman of the Foresight Materials Panel).
Discussion and Outcome
(i) Council's reports
6. Regarding the Council's report on ‘Technology Matters', members welcomed the new fiscal and other relevant measures, which the Chancellor had announced in his budget statement of 21 March 2000. They also welcomed the launch of ‘Enterprise Insight' on 11 May, the consultation by Paul Myners on the review of institutional investors and the new changes to National Insurance Charges announced by the Financial Secretary on 19 May.
7. On the ‘Science Teachers' report, members endorsed the intention of the Department for Education and Employment to convene a consultative conference with secondary school science teachers in the autumn.
(ii) Programme of Work 2000/2001.
8. Members agreed to establish a sub-group under the leadership of Ms Emma Rothschild, with Mr Javaid Aziz, Professor Vicki Bruce and Dr David Potter to conduct a scoping study looking at the links between the so-called creative industries, the arts and humanities and the science base. The sub-group was tasked with preparing an initial report, with recommendations for further work in this field, for consideration at the Council's next meeting on 25 September.
9. They also agreed that the programme should include work on:
- the impending quinquennial review
of the Research Councils (other than that concerning the CCLRC).
- a follow-up review covering the
Council's reports on Science Teachers, Technology Matters and
S&T Activities across Government.
- a further substantive topic, possibly concerning the postgraduate education and training of S&T entrepreneurs.
10. To deal with work on the quinquennial review of the Research Councils, as and when appropriate, members established a sub-group under the leadership of Professor Julia Higgins, comprising Professor Sir Alec Broers, Professor Kumar Bhattacharyya and Sir Paul Nurse. They decided to give further consideration to the other substantive topic of work at the Council's next meeting on 25 September 2000.
.
(iii) EU Framework Programme 6 and Science and Innovation
11. Members noted that the responses to the Office of Science and Technology's consultation on the sixth European Framework Programme had been largely positive and chimed well with the points raised by members at the Council's previous meeting on 6 March 2000.
(iv) Foresight
12. Members received a presentation on the current (second) round of Foresight by the Director of OST's Foresight Directorate, Ms Julie Carney, and by the Chairmen of two of the Foresight Panels, Sir Michael Peckham (Health Panel) and Professor John Woods (Materials Panel). They welcomed the real benefits which had been achieved so far by Foresight and that the Panels were commencing a consultation period in order to complete their new reports on schedule in November 2000.
CST Secretariat
June 2000
Last revised: September 2001
