SUMMARY OF COUNCIL MEETING ON 14 SEPTEMBER 1998
Purpose
The Council met to decide its overall programme of work for the next 12 months concerning the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review for Science and Technology generally, the education of young people in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) and the exploitation of the UK’s SET Base by British Business.
Attendees
In the absence overseas of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Minister for Science, the meeting was chaired by Sir Robert May, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser.
The independent members present were:
Professor S Kumar Bhattacharyya CBE FEng, Dr Rob Margetts CBE FEng, Sir Robin Nicholson FRS FEng, Dame Bridget Ogilvie ScD FIBiol FRCPath, Professor Sir Stewart Sutherland FBA, Professor Sir Alec Broers FRS FEng, Professor Keith O‘Nions FRS, Miss Emma Rothschild, Professor Julia Higgins CBE FRS, Dr Christopher Evans OBE FBiol, Mr David Potter CBE, and Mr J Martin Taylor.
Discussion and Outcome
The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR)
Members considered a paper dealing with the S&T aspects of the CSR White Paper entitled "Modern Public Services for Britain – Investing in Reform" which had been published last July.
The Council agreed to establish a sub–group under the leadership of Sir Robin Nicholson with Sir Richard Sykes, Dame Bridget Ogilvie, Dr Chris Evans and Professor Keith O’Nions.
Subject to future progress and developments, this sub–group was tasked with preparing a report for the Council meeting next March about the Government’s overall expenditure plans for S&T in the light of the final allocations made by the main Departments concerned, namely the Department of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Department of Health. Together these Departments account for some 60% of the Government’s total annual expenditure on research and development including support for research provided through the dual support arrangements.
The sub–group was also tasked with presenting an interim report at the Council ‘s next meeting in December.
Education
Members next considered a background paper presenting the various factors which influence the number and quality of young people choosing to enter SET careers. The paper also summarised steps currently being taken by Government with regard to schools, teachers, teacher recruitment, the national curriculum and A–levels (plus the equivalent qualification in Scotland) and the new National Guild for Learning.
In the discussions, members drew the important distinction between educating young people generally about SET and teaching scientific literacy to those choosing to follow research and other careers in SET. Members also noted the changing mix of subjects chosen for study at A–Level and in Higher Education, the continuing shortfall in the recruitment of teachers in such key subjects as chemistry, physics and mathematics, and the generally positive trends in the number of young people studying SET subjects and the standards they are achieving.
The Council therefore decided to establish a sub–group under the leadership of Professor Julia Higgins and comprising Professor Sir Stewart Sutherland, Dame Bridget Ogilvie, Dr Robert Margetts and Sir Aaron Klug to consider more fully which issues merited the Council’s particular attention and to prepare a plan for addressing them.
Subject to future progress and developments, this sub–group was tasked with preparing a report for the Council’s next meeting in December with a view to advice on these specific issues being subsequently prepared in time for the Council’s meeting in June 1999.
More particularly, the sub–group was asked to commence its work by assessing the current state of knowledge about the factors which influenced student choice up until the age of 16 and, more generally, by considering how the education supply chain could be improved as a system through developing partnerships between schools, businesses, universities and other parties involved.
Exploiting the UK’s SET Base
Members considered a background paper containing an assessment of the current position and a description of the present framework for supporting and encouraging interactions between businesses and the UK’s SET Base.
In their discussions, members noted the considerable progress which had been made over the last decade in particular. The supporting framework had been developed and improved considerably. Many instances of successful partnerships between the demand and supply sides now existed and there was a clear trend in UK businesses developing broader and deeper relationships with universities and other research and technology organisations forming the SET Base itself.
Members considered however that there was no room for complacency, particularly when comparing the UK with the USA where through entrepreneurship and risk taking, many more high–tec, substantive businesses had been created or "spun off" over the past 10 to 15 years. Members judged it particularly important to consider what more could be done to improve the movement of highly qualified people in SET subjects which characterised many of the most successful of these new businesses in the US. Fiscal incentives such as stock options also appeared more favourable in the US where the investment profile of venture capital was dominated by high–tec new companies, established in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in close proximity to many research centres and sources of leading edge SET expertise.
The Council therefore decided to establish a sub–group under the leadership of Professor Sir Alec Broers with Dr Chris Evans, Mr David Potter, Miss Emma Rothschild and Mr Martin Taylor and Professor Kumar Bhattacharyya to consider these matters in the light of the impending White Paper on Competitiveness and the Chancellor’s pre–Budget Statement in November.
Subject to future progress and developments, this sub–group was tasked with preparing an initial report for the Council meeting scheduled for next March with a view to completing its work in time for the Council meeting in September 1999. More particularly, the sub–group was asked to consider the UK’s performance in entrepreneurship and corporate venturing with new SET. It was also asked to consider why so few qualified scientists and engineers worked within the SME sector which currently accounts for some 95% of British businesses.
Last revised: September 2001
