UK science chief says new department will improve lives

The UK’s new cabinet minister for science says that she will have a “relentless focus” on using research to make people’s lives better.

Michelle Donelan said that a department focusing solely on science, technology and innovation would be “transformative”.

This will be the first time that there has been a cabinet minister focussed on science since 1994.

Critics say the creation of a science department is an ill-timed distraction.

The business department had responsibility for science. But it was split in three as part of the cabinet reshuffle earlier this week: Business and Trade, Energy Security and Net Zero and Science, Innovation and Technology, which Ms Donelan now leads.

She said that the reorganisation showed that science and innovation was ”at the heart” of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s agenda.

“It’s a top priority for the prime minister because he understands how much innovation, growth and opportunity are at the heart of his promises that he made to the public.

“Having this department with its relentless focus will ensure that technology innovation are making people’s lives better.”

Ms Donelan that she would bring together the government’s scientific initiatives, some of which are dispersed across different departments, under one roof.

This would enable her new department to ensure that publicly funded research helped deliver high-quality jobs and a better health service, as well as making the UK a leader in technology and innovation.

Prof Dame Ottoline Leyser, who is the chief executive of the government agency that oversees funding of research, UKRI, welcomed the appointment:

“The establishment of the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is an incredibly exciting development, signalling the Government’s commitment to building a fully joined up research and innovation system”.

But Prof James Wilsdon, a specialist in science policy at University College London said that it was an ”odd time” to make such a big change to how research is run in the UK.

“We may be at the beginning of a golden era under Rishi Sunak as PM that will take us well into the 2050s, but most people think he’ll be out by the end of next year,” he said. “If that’s the case, then tinkering with the furniture, name badges and structures is really a distraction from the actual priorities.

“There are many more pressing issues facing UK science than who is in charge of it, in which office in Whitehall.”

Among those pressing issues is UK membership of the European Union’s £90bn Horizon research programme. The EU has gone back on a commitment it made in the Brexit withdrawal agreement to allow British scientists to participate because of a dispute over the status of Northern Ireland .

Prof Sir Adrian Smith, who is the president of the Royal Society, which represents the UK’s leading scientists, said that the issue had to be at the top of the new science secretary’s to-do list. He said Ms Donelan’s first job should be to secure association to Horizon Europe and other EU science programmes.

”These schemes support outstanding international collaboration and without being part of them we are undermining the Prime Minister’s stated ambition for the UK to be at the forefront of science and technology globally.”