Committee announce Spending Review 2010 call for written evidence

The Committee has taken the decision to invite representations from the wider scientific community and other interested parties over the coming months on the future impact of the budget allocations. The Committee then plans to review which areas may need further examination following the Easter recess. In the interim, the Committee is carrying out a short inquiry into astronomy and particle physics (see separate astronomy and particle physics press release).

Andrew Miller MP, Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, said:

“Following the Committee’s evidence session last week with Research Council chief executives, and our session with David Willetts in November, the Committee has decided to call for written submissions from the wider scientific community on the impact of the science and research budget allocations for 2011/12 to 2014/15.”

“Difficult funding and implementation decisions in many areas will now have to be made by the Government and key budget holders. As the dust settles over the coming months, it will begin to become clear where the key pressure points will be, and how decision will impact on the UK scientific and research community and our world-renowned science base.”

Background

The Committee has already held two oral evidence sessions on the Spending Review 2010. On 24 November it took evidence from Rt Hon David Willetts MP, the Minister for Universities and Science, and Professor Adrian Smith, Director General of Science and Research at BIS, on the overall science budget for 2011/12 to 2014/15. The Committee subsequently took evidence on 19 January from Research Council chief executives on their budget allocations for the next four years. The written transcripts to both these sessions are available on the Committee’s website.

The Committee invites written submissions on BIS’s Science and Research Budget Allocation 2011/12 to 2014/15 (available at: www.bis.gov.uk) and also on the evidence heard by the Committee to date on the Spending Review 2010 (as detailed above) by the close on Wednesday 27 April.

Each submission should:
a) be no more than 3,000 words in length
b) be in Word format with as little use of colour or logos as possible
c) have numbered paragraphs
d) include a declaration of interests.

A copy of the submission should be sent by e-mail to scitechcom@parliament.uk and marked "Spending Review 2010".

An additional paper copy should be sent to:
The Clerk
Science and Technology Committee
House of Commons
7 Millbank
London SW1P 3JA