Government Science Advisers under the microscope
13 December 2011
The Chairs of three Government scientific advisory bodies will be questioned by the Lords Science and Technology Committee on Tuesday 13 December as part of their inquiry into the role of the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisers (CSAs).
Witnesses
At 10.40am, Tuesday 13 December, Committee Room 4, Palace of Westminster
- Professor John Shepherd, Chair of the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Scientific Advisory Group;
- Professor Ian Poll, Chair of the Defence (MoD) Scientific Advisory Council; and
- Dame Helen Ghosh, Chair of Home Office (HO) Science Advisory Committee.
The Committee is expected to explore issues such as:
- the purpose of scientific advisory bodies, how they promote the use of science evidence in policy making and if –and how- the system could be improved
- the nature of the relationship between the scientific advisory bodies and CSAs
- how they have influenced a department’s policy decisions and whether they provide external critique and expertise
- whether CSAs should be given resources to commission scientific research or independent expert judgement to inform policy-making where facts are missing or uncertainties exist