The IES has responded to a consultation from the new House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee into the Government's Science Budget. The committee has decided to review the Science budget in the runup to this autumn's Comprehensive Spending Review.
The inquiry is ongoing, with various oral evidence sessions planned in the coming weeks, but the call for written evidence has now closed, and the submissions received are available on the committee's webpages. Written comment was invited on a range of issues associated with science spending, as specified in the inquiry terms of reference.
The IES response focuses on the need for a cross-governmental approach and commitment to investment in science, both to promote economic growth and inform policy, and to meet the major societal and environmental challenges the UK faces. The submission also calls for better connectivity between funding for applied and fundamental science, and the protection of departmental R&D budgets, which traditionally fall outside of the Science Budget. We argue that a long-term approach to investment in science, which mirrors the long-term nature of many environmental challenges and processes, is vital, and this will reqiure cross-party political collaboration.
