Wednesday 30 Apr 2008 @ 10:46
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Science and Technology Facilities Council
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Science and Technology Facilities Council STFC initial response to the House
Science and Technology Facilities Council STFC initial response to the House of Commons’ Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee report dated 30 April 2008
Issued by STFC Chief Executive Officer Professor Keith Mason
• A number of issues highlighted by the report have already been recognised by STFC, and I have taken decisive actions to address them over the past few months.
• The merger of two organisations, coupled with a challenging spending review, has, as the committee points out, been difficult. This is now in the past. I intend for STFC to look forward, though we will take account of some areas where we could have done better. I would hope that the difficulties will not overshadow the considerable advances and successes that we have achieved during our first 12 months.
• STFC announced in February that it would defer decisions on its investment programme until the Wakeham Review reports in the summer.
• The report calls for changes to STFC’s management structure. This was addressed in February when our new executive board was announced. A restructuring of STFC is being implemented by Professor Richard Wade, STFC Chief Operating Officer.
• The STFC is currently engaged in a major consultation on our science programme – we received more than 1,200 submissions to our consultation on our Programmatic Review in March. We expect our draft science and technology strategy to be out for community consultation in the summer and STFC’s overall vision will also be circulated for community comment. Internal consultation with staff and external consultation with our scientific community are areas where we need to do better. This is one of my top priorities.
• STFC will be contributing to the formal response that DIUS makes to the IUS committee report.
Contact:
Peter Barratt
STFC Head of Media and Corporate Communications
Tel: +44 01793 442025
Mobile: +44 07879 602899
Email: peter.barratt@stfc.ac.uk
Issued by STFC Chief Executive Officer Professor Keith Mason
• A number of issues highlighted by the report have already been recognised by STFC, and I have taken decisive actions to address them over the past few months.
• The merger of two organisations, coupled with a challenging spending review, has, as the committee points out, been difficult. This is now in the past. I intend for STFC to look forward, though we will take account of some areas where we could have done better. I would hope that the difficulties will not overshadow the considerable advances and successes that we have achieved during our first 12 months.
• STFC announced in February that it would defer decisions on its investment programme until the Wakeham Review reports in the summer.
• The report calls for changes to STFC’s management structure. This was addressed in February when our new executive board was announced. A restructuring of STFC is being implemented by Professor Richard Wade, STFC Chief Operating Officer.
• The STFC is currently engaged in a major consultation on our science programme – we received more than 1,200 submissions to our consultation on our Programmatic Review in March. We expect our draft science and technology strategy to be out for community consultation in the summer and STFC’s overall vision will also be circulated for community comment. Internal consultation with staff and external consultation with our scientific community are areas where we need to do better. This is one of my top priorities.
• STFC will be contributing to the formal response that DIUS makes to the IUS committee report.
Contact:
Peter Barratt
STFC Head of Media and Corporate Communications
Tel: +44 01793 442025
Mobile: +44 07879 602899
Email: peter.barratt@stfc.ac.uk
