House of Lords Science and Technology Committee  

The UK parliament’s House of Lords Science and Technology held an inquiry in 2013 on Scientific Infrastructure.  Their report was positive, but argued that the UK lacked a long-term strategy and investment plan for scientific infrastructure; and failed to provide adequately for operational costs at facilities.

The report also recommended a more active role for the UK in developing EU infrastructures.  There were concerns that the benefits of Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs) in providing national capabilities and acting as custodians of data, expertise and facilities, was being  eroded by an over-emphasis on profit margins and uncertainty over long term funding.

The UK government has now responded and has announced a consultation on long term science and research capital and an advisory group that will inform a roadmap on long term science capital – this is seen as a central element of a Science and Innovation Strategy to be published in Autumn 2014.  The UK Research Councils also provided a short response.

The UK parliament's House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has announced an inquiry on Scientific Infrastructure.  In summary, the key questions are.../

1. What scientific infrastructure is currently available in the UK and do UK researchers have sufficient access to cutting edge infrastructure? How does this compare to other countries?
2. What role should the Government play in ensuring there is an effective long-term strategy for meeting scientific infrastructure needs?
3. Is it more important to invest in large national infrastructure or medium infrastructure?
4. How were decisions on investment made since the Comprehensive Spending Review reached? What has been the impact on these decisions?
5. What has been the impact of removing capital spend from the ring-fenced budget? Should the ring fenced science budget be redefined to include an element of capital spend?
6. Are effective and fair arrangements in place for access and charging for public and private science infrastructure?
7. To what extent do funding structures in the UK help or hinder involvement in EU and international projects?
8. What impact does publicly funded scientific infrastructure have in terms of supporting innovation and stimulating the UK’s economy?

Within a wider international context of development of thinking and policy on open access, there have been a series of UK reports and recommendations in the last year. Some of the key resources are...../

1. The Royal Society's Science as an Open Enterprise, published in June 2012, makes recommendations on an open culture in science, recognition for data analysis and communication, standards for sharing information and publishing data for reuse and related matters.
2. The Finch Report, also June 2012, which makes recommendations on data access and open access to publications - and the UK Government response.
3. RCUK published an Open Access Policy in July 2012, setting out conditions for grant holders from 1 April 2013 - and a final revised policy on 8 April 2013.  RCUK has continued to develop its policy and to clarify implications and operation.  Individual councils - such as NERC - have developed from this foundation to reflect their research enterprise.
4. The UK House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee held an inquiry in early 2013, reporting in February and making recommendations for the clarification of RCUK policy and procedure.  Both the UK Government and RCUK responded.
5. HEFCE has been consulting on open access implementation with respect to research considered within the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF)
6. The Wellcome Trust has an Open Access Policy applying CC-BY to papers published with Wellcome funds from April 2013.
7. The European Commission has been supporting a pilot exercise within FP7  - open access principles will be further developed under Horizon 2020.
8. the UK government produced an Open Data White Paper in June 2012 setting out a broad agenda for access to government data, including open access to publicly-funded research data.  The government has set up a Research Sector Transparency Board, charied by the UK science minister David Willetts, that had an initial meeting in February 2013, aiming to develop the policy agenda for the UK.
9. The US Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a memo on the development of open access for federally funded research data and publications in February 2013.  Commentary in Nature.

The UK Parliament's House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has produced a report on the role of UK government departments' Chief Scientific Advisers.