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Council for Science and Technology

My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Universities and Science (David Willetts) has today made the following Statement. The Prime Minister has agreed to reconstitute the Council for Science and Technology (CST) and reappointed four of the existing members to the newly reconstituted Council, starting from 1 January 2011. The CST is the Government’s top-level advisory body on science, engineering and technology policy. The four reappointees are: Dr Hermann Hauser Hon CBE, FREng; Professor Alan Hughes; Professor Michael Sterling FREng; Sir Mark Walport FMedSci. Their reappointment term will commence on 1 January 2011 and end on 31 December 2013. The Prime Minister also reappointed Professor Dame Janet Finch as CST independent co-chair until the end of December 2011, alongside the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, currently Professor Sir John Beddington CMG FRS. In addition, the Prime Minister has appointed four ex-officio members: President of the Royal Society—Sir Paul Nurse; President of the Royal Academy of Engineering—Lord Browne; President of the Academy of Medical Sciences—Sir John Bell; President of the British Academy—Sir Adam Roberts as new members of the Council, effective from 1 January 2011. The recruitment process for around 10 new members is currently under way, in accordance with the OCPA rules. The CST is the UK Government’s top-level advisory body on science and technology policy issues. It reports directly to the Prime Minister. The CST’s remit is to advise the Prime Minister on strategic science and technology policy issues that cut across the responsibilities of individual government departments. Full details of CST’s terms of reference and organisation can be found at http://www.bis.gov.uk/cst.