The death of DIUS

Today the motion for creating a dedicated committee to oversee science policy across Government was discussed in Parliament. Good news, we're getting it back. The Campaign for Science & Engineering had this to say: The Campaign for Science & Engineering (CaSE) warmly welcomed the House of Commons' decision to establish the Science and Technology Committee. CaSE lobbied for it to be established following the merger of DIUS and BIS. In today's debate Phil Willis MP commended CaSE's efforts to bring back the Science and Technology Committee. Commenting Nick Dusic, CaSE's Director, said…
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has issued a press release in response to the special report published by the IUSS last week: Responding to the IUSS Committee's fourth special report of session 2008-9, "The future of science scrutiny following the merger of DIUS and BERR", Lord Drayson, Minister for Science and Innovation said:"The creation of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills places science at the heart of the Government's strategy to help the economy come through the recession stronger, more competitive and more sustainable. Our ability to maintain and…
As expected, the special report issued by the IUSS Committee recommends the creation of a dedicated committee overseeing science policy in the UK Government. See my report at the Guardian Science Blog: The Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee issued a special report today calling on the government to safeguard scrutiny of science policy following the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The report recommends that proposals for the creation of a separate science and…
Lord Mandelson is insisting science and education won't suffer under the Department for Business, rubbishing the idea that business-led investment and curiosity-led research are exclusive options. Zoe Corbyn speaks to Mandelson for Times Higher Education: Told by Times Higher Education that universities had reacted with "horror" to news that the business department would take over responsibility for higher education policy, Lord Mandelson claimed that this was "absolutely untrue"."I spoke yesterday to [Universities UK president] Rick Trainor who expressed no horror whatsoever," he said. "And…
Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, will tomorrow announce his intention to place science "at centre of vision of Britain's future prosperity" in a speech at the Science Museum in London. Marking the launch of the museum's centenary celebrations, Mandelson will outline the role of science in the newly-created Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. In a press release he stated: A new world is emerging. One on the edge of a new industrial revolution that's driven by new technologies and the world's shift to low-carbon. And where global…
I'm in the Guardian again, talking about the Government's decision to scrap the two-year old Department for Innovation, Universities, and Skills in favour of incorporating these duties into the Department for Business. Science is in a vulnerable position at the moment: As the dust settles following Gordon Brown's cabinet shuffle on Friday, it's clear that the landscape of British science has been transformed. Where the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills once stood, now only a vacant lot and several skips filled with DIUS-branded stationery remain. If the forwarding address is…
Amid the carnage surrounding Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle, science has lost its footing and looks like it may end up as simply another tool for business and enterprise (read: grants redirected to profitable areas of research). Over at the Lay Scientist, Martin Robbins has a fairly thorough round up of the changes, and what they might mean: From the reshuffle that took place yesterday, one piece of news has slipped out under the radar. DIUS, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills currently responsible for the UK science funding councils, is apparently being disbanded just…