rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 20 November be approved [Second Report from the Statutory Instruments Committee].
The noble Lord said: My Lords, the purpose of the order is to establish a new Science and Technology Facilities Council under the Science and Technology Act 1965. The Act requires that a draft of the Order in Council declaring the Science and Technology Facilities Council to be a research council and specifying the new body’s objects must be laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament. The draft royal charter under which the new body will be incorporated has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses as background to this debate.
The aims of the new council will be: to create a more integrated approach to large scientific research facilities, including international negotiations, for long-term projects involving several countries acting together; to obtain more value from the knowledge and technologies that are developed as a result of the new council’s programmes; and to deliver those goals using the two science and innovation campuses at Harwell and Daresbury as identifiable knowledge-transfer centres that host UK-based large-scale international facilities.
The new council will be created by the merger of the activities of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and the transfer to it of the nuclear physics research activities of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The proposal will give the council the scope to carry out those activities.
The proposals to create such a council were subject to public consultation following the 2006 Budget. There was wide support for the creation of a unified council dealing with the large facilities previously managed by the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and for keeping the research and postgraduate training powers of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council within the new council. That is how we propose to proceed—noble Lords will notice that we are not shortening the names of any of the research councils involved.
Professor Keith Mason, the chief executive of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, has been appointed as chief executive designate of the proposed new council and is leading the necessary transition work at the councils. I am grateful for the leadership he is providing. All the staff, assets and liabilities will be transferred from the existing councils concerned to the Science and Technology Facilities Council under the terms of a further order made under the Science and Technology Act 1965 using the negative resolution procedure. It is planned that the council will start work on 1 April 2007. I beg to move.
Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 20 November be approved [Second Report from the Statutory Instruments Committee].—(Lord Truscott.)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing this order. We note that the Explanatory Memorandum states that,
“a few respondents argued for the status quo but, in view of the fact that no adverse impact is expected in either the private or public sector and that there is overwhelming support”—
despite the memorandum having stated earlier that only two-thirds of respondents were “broadly supportive”—
“it has been decided that a new Council should be created”.
Can the Minister explain that justification more fully?
Among the risks acknowledged in the regulatory impact assessment of option 1, which has been adopted, is the risk that,
“funding may be diverted away from grants to support facilities management and that Universities could be disadvantaged in favour of Government-run facilities as a result”.
Could the Minister expand on what is being done to mitigate those risks?
As a matter of interest, should we not also expect administrative savings as a result of amalgamating the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council? I look forward to the Minister’s responses.
My Lords, the Explanatory Notes for this order talk about the facility of providing funding for large-scale facilities. While we support such work as the Large Hadron Collider fission research taking place in France, might money going into this new research council be directed into such large projects overseas?
My Lords, this debate reminds me of my first lecture in Birmingham Central Library, talking about the importance of science. That evening was a bit like the House of Lords—the audience was zero, although we are a bit better than that here.
This is an important statement from the Minister, but one of the features of UK science is the limited degree of publicity supporting these major facilities. Recently we had the Mars Lander project. It is important that this new research council brings together both the science and the support of these big systems. This is a major part of demonstrating science and encouraging a greater involvement of science. The public education aspect of this new research council is important. That is part of its remit. Has the Minister any comments?
The Explanatory Notes had a rather different emphasis from the Minister’s remarks. He commented on these facilities being part of an international network, which I very much endorse, but the document focused on the United Kingdom. However, all these facilities operate effectively only when they are part of an international network. The EU has systems and large-facility integration, and transatlantic international and bilateral arrangements are important as well. My point, which has not been made elsewhere, is to repeat what I asked the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury, four years ago. When you apply for a research grant in the UK, you have to comment on whether the research is going to add to economic development and quality of life, and my question was whether that involved just the UK or if it applied globally. The noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury, said emphatically that this was a global concern. Following that, there have been many research grants, which had been turned down, but which were allowed to proceed because they were focusing on global issues. All government remarks have been that all the big scientific issues are global. So the remarks made in the text—
“contribute to the economic competitiveness of our United Kingdom and the quality of life of its people”—
are narrower than the interpretation of the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury, three or four years ago. Would the Minister like to comment?
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, asked about the consultation. More than 120 responses were received by the close of the consultation on 16 June. Those in favour of the merger outnumbered those against by a margin of two to one, while the proposal to transfer PPARC’s grant-giving functions to the EPSRC were opposed by a margin of about three to one.
Has the whole exercise been about cost savings? No, it has not. We are seeking to strengthen the UK’s long-term position in access to large facilities. Research councils already have high-quality efficiency programmes, set up following the Gershon review, which will be unchanged by a decision to create the STFC.
The noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, and my noble friend Lord Hunt of Chesterton asked about European or other international commitments. The STFC will be a member of a number of major international collaborations—CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, the European Space Agency, the European Southern Observatory, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and the Institut Laue-Langevin. Involvement in all those enterprises will provide the organisation with access to research facilities essential to achieve its mission and will account for a sizeable part of its overall expenditure. The Government have responded to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures road map by asking Research Councils UK for advice on how the UK should get involved in such priority projects.
Will there be a representative of the particle physics, nuclear physics, space and astronomy communities? No decision has been made on that. The department aims to have members from a mix of backgrounds able to command the confidence of the science communities that it serves and to provide strategic direction to the new council. In essence, I can confirm again that this is not a cost-saving measure. The intention is that the council will have an important domestic and international role.
On Question, Motion agreed to.