Science budget allocations reviewed

The conclusions of the Report include:

• The Budget increases do not fully cover Government-determined spending commitments - such as the requirement for Research Councils to cover 80% of the full economic costs of research - and expenditure on new bodies like the Technology Strategy Board.
• The Committee is concerned that the Government has failed to protect the existing and planned research base and has reservations about the influence Government appears to have on the use of the budget and the extent to which the Haldane Principle - scientists making the detailed decisions on spending - has been upheld.
• The formation of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) was untimely and poorly conceived. Formed in April 2007, it could not be ready for the 2007 CSR. And in merging two Research Councils, one research community has been saddled with the debt of another.
• In STFC itself, the report finds weaknesses in its peer review system, its communications, and its management. Substantial and urgent changes need to be made to the way in which the Council is run in order to restore confidence and to give the Council the leadership it desperately needs.
• The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has a difficult job to do; it has to ensure that the Research Councils are effective without interfering in how they spend their money. The evidence suggests that the Department's performance has been below par in both these areas and it must demonstrate greater effectiveness in the future.

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