Items to be covered 14/09/2012

Transcription

1 The Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology: Role, History & Achievements Presentation to Faculty of Science Graduates University of Bath 14 th September 2012 Prof. Jim Norton FREng! Immediate Past President! BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT!! External Board Member! UK Parliamentary Office of Science &Tech.!! Chartered Director! Chartered Engineer! Chartered IT Professional! 1 Items to be covered What POST is A brief history of POST. Board structure and team. What POST does. POST publications POST events Comments from POST alumni. The European dimension. POST website. 1

2 POST An office of both Houses of Parliament providing MPs and peers with balanced and independent analysis of public policy issues that have a basis in science and technology. 3 A brief history of POST - Founding Early 1980s. Rising awareness within the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee of the activities of offices of science and technology or technology assessment in other countries' legislatures Investigation by MPs of the operation of overseas Parliamentary offices Discussions within the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee lead to it supporting the establishment of a UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Delegation meets the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher MP to pursue the idea. The Prime Minister accepted the concept, recommending testing of the strength of support by seeking external funding from the scientific community The Parliament and Scientific Committee decides to proceed with a "demonstration" project and, in July 1988, establishes a charity, the Parliamentary Science and Technology Information Foundation, to support the work. Early Founding director recruited, starting work at POST in April Board determines overall working patterns of POST. Summer Fund raising, including support from foundations and individual Parliamentarians. Scheme for short period secondments at no cost to POST arranged. Candidates come mostly from academia, research councils and government laboratories. Source: Select Committee on Information July

3 A brief history of POST - Consolidation March Initial consideration by the House of Commons Services Committee, which resolved to support the case for Parliamentary funding subject to the results of a questionnaire to MPs and peers. July Questionnaire results showed a 4-1 vote in favour of Parliamentary funding of POST, on a return of 239 MPs and 200 Peers. House of Commons Services Committee re-affirms its support of Parliamentary funding of POST. House of Commons Commission notes the support for Parliamentary funding of POST and recommends that the matter be considered in detail by the newly created Information Committee. Nov Information Committee established and commences inquiry, taking both oral and written evidence. March Information Committee reports recommending Parliamentary funding of POST for a three year period. June House of Commons approves the Information Committee recommendations on POST. October House of Lords agrees to support POST. April POST established as internal body of Parliament, serving both Houses, administered by the Department of the Clerk of the House of Commons. Source: Select Committee on Information July 2000 POST board structure The Board comprises: 14 parliamentarians drawn from the House of Commons (10) and the House of Lords (4), roughly reflecting the balance of parties in Parliament. Leading non-parliamentarians from the science and technology community. Representatives of the House of Lords and the Department of Information Services of the House of Commons. The POST Board oversees POST's objectives, outputs and future work programme. It meets quarterly. Adam Afriyie MP has been the MP for Windsor since He was Shadow Minister for Innovation and Science prior to the 2010 General Election, and has been Chair of POST's Board since Source: Lord Winston has been a member of the House of Lords since He joined the POST Board in 1998 and has been Vice-chair since

4 Director Dr. Chris Tyler The POST team Chris joined POST in He was previously Executive Director at the Centre for Science and Policy, University of Cambridge, and a science adviser to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. Deputy Director Dr. Chandrika Nath - Physical Sciences & ICT and Science and the Developing World Scientific Advisers: Dr. Peter Border Biology and Health Dr. Sarah Bunn Biology and Health Dr. Martin Griffiths Physical Sciences and ICT Dr. Jonny Wentworth Environment and Energy Source: offices/bicameral/post/about-post/contacting-post/ What POST does Publications on science and technology issues: POSTnotes: generally 4 pages, typically per year. Reports: up to 100 pages (with 4 page summaries), typically 1 per year. Assists Select Committees. Organises Parliamentary seminars. POST Aims: Independent, Balanced, Comprehensive, Relevant, Informative and Timely 4

5 Recent publications Balancing Nature & Agriculture Energy Use Behaviour Change Drug-resistant Tuberculosis Preventing Diabetes Open Source & Open Standards Assessing Capacity for Work GM in Agricultural Development Assessing Energy Efficiency Bioenergy ICT for Disabled People Seeking Sustainability Consumer Genetic Testing Personalised Cancer Treatments Impact of Video Games Forthcoming publications Biological Sciences & Health: HIV developments in prevention & treatment Measuring wellbeing Mental health in the workplace Review of stem cell research Environment & Energy: Drought resilience Heat pumps Biodiversity in UK overseas territories Environmental planning for nature. Physical Sciences & ICT: Open public sector data Advanced manufacturing Machine to Machine communications Science Policy: STEM education for yearolds Science, Technology & the Developing World: Clean water & MDGs Uncertainty in population projections 5

6 Recent POST Events Science for MP s researchers. The costs of electricity power lines. Natural flood management. Show me the evidence. Bioenergy. ICT for disabled people. Landscapes of the future. Neuroscience, Children and the Law. Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Road Freight. Forthcoming POST Events Breathe: Turner updated. A talk by the renowned artist Dryden Goodwin hosted by the Environmental Audit Committee and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. The third industrial revolution: Industrial policy and disruptive technologies. 6

7 Comments from POST alumni On 5 th September 2012 an inaugural meeting of POST alumni was held in Portcullis House. Some of the quotes were: The assignment at POST changed my life Having a prestigious publication was vital in my subsequent career The period in POST enabled me to greatly broaden my range of contacts The international dimension of POST activities was of great value The opportunity to build cross-disciplinary links was really helpful Part of a European network 7

8 Website 8