30/06/09 CaSE attended a Science Council discussion on the upcoming general election

25/06/09 Science and Technology Committee Returns
MPs voted to reinstate the Science and Technology Committee from October 2009. During the House of Commons debate on the motion it became clear that the committee would be able to conduct wide-ranging inquiries, covering the full scope of science policy and related matters including the science budget, and not just the remit of Go Science. CaSE has been campaigning for the Science and Technology Committee, writing to the Leader of the House, commenting in the media, and sending a briefing for MPs for today's debate. CaSE's efforts were acknowledged in the House during the debate.
Read the full press release
Read the briefing

25/06/09 CaSE met with the Society for General Microbiology

24/06/09 CaSE attended the RSC Parliamentary Links Day

23/06/09 CaSE met with the Government Office for Science (GO Science). They discussed the creation of a Treasury CSA, Departmental R&D spending, and the need to open up scientific advice across government.

22/06/09 CaSE Meeting with Lord Drayson
Nick Dusic and Hilary Leevers met with Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation. They discussed the position of science in the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Government Departmental R&D spending, and the need to keep breadth in the science base. All agreed that it was important to make sure that science policy is seen as a critical issue in the next general election.

19/06/09 Shadow Minister for Science and Innovation supports Science and Technology Committee
Adam Afriyie MP, Shadow Minister for Science and Innovation and member of the former Science and Technology Committee, has written exclusively to CaSE in support of a reinvigorated science committee. He argued that “With a large science budget and the challenges facing the research base in a downturn, we must scrutinize science policy or risk our competitive advantage.”
Read his full comments

18/06/09 Science and Technology Committee discussed in parliament
The need for a Science and Technology Committee was raised during business questions in the House of Commons. Liberal Democrat MP Phil Willis suggested that the need for a concerted focus on science and technology had not been appreciated.
Commenting on the discussion, CaSE's Assistant Director, Dr Hilary Leevers, said, “It was great to hear MPs express their support for the re-establishment of a Science and Technology Committee. This reflected the disappointment felt by its demise two years ago. We sincerely hope that the opportunity to reintroduce scrutiny of science policy across government departments is not missed."

This issue will be discussed in a parliamentary debate next Thursday (25th June).
CaSE will be producing a briefing for the debate.

18/06/09 Diversity at the Royal Society
Hilary Leevers met with the Royal Society to discuss strategies to improve diversity.

17/06/09 Chief Scientific Advisor for Wales
It has been announced that Wales will be getting its first Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) with direct access to the First Minister. The CSA will act as champion for science in education and the economy and will be able to challenge advice throughout the Welsh Assembly Government. CaSE has joined with many others, notably the Royal Society of Chemistry, for calling for such an appointment for many years. Most recently, Professor Christopher Pollock was acting CSA for a year and reported on the position last autumn, but just last week the Deputy First Minister said that it would be premature to make an announcement. We are therefore delighted to have such a positive outcome and look forward to welcoming the new and first CSA for Wales.

16/06/09 Reform
Hilary Leevers, Assistant Director, attended the launch of Reform’s new report “A New Level”. This examined the evolution of A levels over recent years, raising serious concerns about the lack of challenge and arguing for universities to become more involved, once again, in their development and assessment. Nick Gibb, Shadow Minister for Schools, commented that it was not necessary to reduce rigour in order to widen participation. After the event, Hilary Leevers was able to discuss concerns about science GCSEs with him.
Read the report.

15/06/09 Lord Drayson supports Science and Technology Committee
Lord Drayson spoke in support of a cross-departmental committee to scrutinise government science policy stating “it is my belief that the creation of a separate committee to look specifically at science across Government is necessary”.
See the full response

14/06/09 Queen's Birthday Honours
Congratulations to Linda Partridge FRS, member of CaSE Advisory Council, who will be appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

12/06/09 Science and Technology Committee
CaSE welcomed the IUSS Committee’s report on the "The future of science scrutiny following the merger of DIUS and BERR", which called for the re-establishment of a Science and Technology Committee. Commenting on the need for a Science and Technology Committee in the House of Commons, Nick Dusic, CaSE’s director, said, “The abolition of the Science and Technology Committee was a mistake that the government should rectify. Letting parliament re-establish the Science and Technology Committee would show that it is handing power back to the House of Commons."
CaSE has also written to the Leader of the House, Harriet Harman MP, encouraging her to allow the House of Commons to revisit the issue of scrutiny of science and engineering.
Read the full press release
Read the IUSS Committee's report
CaSE's letter to Harriet Harman

05/06/07 Creation of Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Prime Minister announced the creation of a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, merging the old Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
CaSE press release

05/06/09 CaSE met with the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)

04/06/09 Science and Libel Laws
CaSE's chair, Professor Hugh Griffiths FREng, has signed on to the Sense about Science campaign "Keep Libel Laws out of Science". The campaign is to support Simon Singh, a CaSE advisory council member, and other science writers against libel actions that discourages debate, denies the public access to the full picture and encourages use of the courts to silence critics.
Read more

04/06/09 Hilary Leevers attended a meeting on STEM skills with major corporate investors in UK R&D.

03/06/09 Hilary Leevers visited the National Science Learning Centre and discussed key issues in science education and teacher training with the Director, John Holman, and his colleagues.

01/06/09 European election commitments
CaSE asked UK political parties in the European Parliament about their EU science and engineering policies prior to the 4th June election. Responses and manifesto commitments were received from Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Green Party, Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru. Issues covered include amount of EU funding going to research, regulation of animal research, support for industry R&D and energy policy.
Read the responses
FT Science Blog
Press Release

01/06/09 CaSE News, the quarterly science and engineering policy updates, was published.