The Government decided to consider and issue, by the end of December 2009, a set of principles applying to the treatment of independent scientific advice provided to Government. This followed the Home Secretary's dismissal of Professor David Nutt as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
The Government decided to consider and issue, by the end of December 2009, a set of principles applying to the treatment of independent scientific advice provided to Government. This followed the Home Secretary's dismissal of Professor David Nutt as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, and the concerns raised by senior scientists about treatment of scientific advice and advisers. The Committee endorses and recommends some changes to the statement of principles issued in November 2009 by Lord Rees, President of the Royal Society, and others concerning: (1) academic freedom; (2) independence of operation; (3) proper consideration of advice. The Committee welcomes the commitment of Lord Drayson, the Minister for Science and Innovation, to resolve the concerns. Any principles that emerge from the review must become part of the Code of practice for scientific advisory committees and the Guidelines on scientific analysis in policy making.
Government's review of the principles applying to the treatment of independent scientific advice provided to Government : Oral and written evidence, 24 February 2010, Rt Hon Lord Drayson, Minister of State for Science and Innovation, and Professor John Be
Following a two-year absence the Science and Technology Committee was re-formed in October 2009 to conduct cross-departmental scrutiny of science and technology. This report summarises the Committee's work of this session. It also reviews the historical landscape of science scrutiny in Parliament across the work of predecessor committees, and documents the impacts they have had on policy and the culture of scientific debate within Westminster. The Committee highlight several inquiries and reports that have had significant impact in informing legislative decisions and holding government to the standard of evidence based policy making.
