Chief Scientific Advisers: S&T Committee Report

Lord Rees of Ludlow Excerpts

Wednesday 17th October 2012 Grand Committee

[Lord Rees of Ludlow]

My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, explained, among European countries none matches our practice of having DCSAs in most departments. They are plainly a feature of our system that we should welcome and sustain, and the fact that we are having this debate is therefore in itself a positive sign.

Science and technology impinge more and more on our lives, and are therefore more pervasive in government. The issues that they raise are often highly technical and sometimes the underlying science in itself is uncertain and controversial. Almost always, a ministerial choice involves considering social, economic and ethical elements as well, and in these broader areas, of course, scientists speak merely as citizens. Within their remit, though, scientific advisers should not just offer facts; still less should they merely buttress policies already decided. They should be prepared to challenge decision-makers and help them to navigate the uncertainties. This was recognised in the US by President Obama, who opined that scientists’ advice should be heeded,

“even when it’s inconvenient—indeed, especially when it is inconvenient”.

Of course, Obama filled some of his key posts with a dream team of top-rate scientists. They have had a tough and frustrating time, but it is good for all of us that Steve Chu, John Holdren, Jane Lubchenco and the rest are still “hanging in there”. We can learn from their experiences, as the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Chesterton, emphasised.

It is indeed good practice that CSAs generally come from outside Whitehall and that they serve a limited term of three to five years. They may keep a foothold in some kind of research lab or university, and they should certainly get around and participate in conferences in the UK and abroad. As compared to career civil servants, those recruited from outside are more likely to be plugged into recent research and international science. Their careers do not depend on ingratiating themselves with the hierarchy, which is why we have urged that only in very special situations should these posts be internal appointments.

As has already been emphasised, their rank and reporting line within the hierarchy does matter. Indeed, in the MoD, there is special importance in having someone who is not outranked by his or her French and American counterparts in formal talks and negotiations.

A DCSA’s personality is at least as crucial as their professional standing. They need to operate adeptly in a system that is a real culture shock for those coming from academia or industry. In this respect, we are disadvantaged compared with the United States, where it is easier to identify people who are truly independent but who have enough experience to hit the ground running when parachuted into a Civil Service culture. Senior staff in the US shuffle between government jobs and posts in, for instance, the Brookings Institution or the Harvard Kennedy School of Government whenever the Administration changes. There are always some who are “out” rather than “in”. Here, of course, we do not have the same revolving door system; government service is still generally a lifetime career. For that reason, and because secrecy is more pervasive, those recruited as DCSAs often have a steeper learning curve.

No individual has the breadth of expertise to cope with all that they will encounter. In particular, the issues are often more engineering than academic. That is certainly the case in the MoD, DECC and Defra. That is why a DCSA needs not only a strong in-house team but a network of external contacts, why there are numerous standing and ad hoc committees of experts across Whitehall, and why the guidelines about their independence are crucial. As has also been emphasised, there should be fewer constraints on whether DCSAs can talk to the press than in the case of regular civil servants, otherwise we will replicate what happened in the Bush Administration in the US and what is happening now in Canada. It is also why independent bodies such as the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering are important.

I shall venture a few words on broader scientific advice which can support DCSAs. Outside bodies such as academies and universities can do more to support them and ensure a richer network of contacts between external experts and policymakers. Declaring an interest as a member of Cambridge University, the new Centre for Science and Policy there aims to do that. Among its activities are not only seminars for politicians and senior officials but a policy fellowships scheme, whereby individuals from Whitehall, business and NGOs spend a week at the university having one-on-one meetings with academics across a range of expertise, helping them to develop new contacts relevant to their brief. Incidentally, the converse of that process—short-term secondments of academics into government departments—should surely be encouraged more as well.

There is one advisory body in the United States which is highly effective there and has no parallel here. It is the JASON group, founded in the 1960s, which involves top-rank academic scientists. They are bankrolled by the US Government but it is a matter of principle that they choose their own new members. They spend about six weeks together in the summer with other meetings during the year, and they tackle applied problems and analysis from a menu that is suggested partly by them and partly by the US Government. They are able to address these problems in depth. The sociology of such a group has not been fully replicated anywhere else. It requires a substantial commitment by people to solve difficult problems. However, there are steps towards this mode in the so-called Blackett groups, set up by Sir John Beddington, where independent experts engage more intensively than just through committee meetings. We should at least try to go a step further towards the intensive JASON model, if not in the military, where it is focused in the US, but in civilian areas within the remit of, for instance, DECC, Defra or the Department for Transport, where some integrated view from independent experts of interdisciplinary strength could be valuable.

A further reason for supporting our committee’s recommendations is that the more clout the DCSAs have, the more effective they will be in leveraging further steps along these lines to enhance the tactical expertise available to Ministers. We will not only cope less well with emergencies if we do not do this but stumble into suboptimal and unco-ordinated plans for developing our transport, environment, energy and health policies.