Government Office for Science
Encyclopedia
The Government Office for Science is part of the British government. This organisation exists to ensure that Government policy and decision-making is underpinned by robust scientific evidence and long-term thinking. It is led by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser
(GCSA), Professor John Beddington
who reports to the Prime Minister
and Cabinet
and works with all Government departments.
The office is based in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
where it works with other parts of the Department, including the Science and Research Group, which funds research through Research Council
s and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
The project synthesized the evidence from over 30 science reviews which demonstrated that the determinants of obesity and their interrelationships were highly complex and in many cases environmental. In response to Foresight’s report the Government published a new strategy for obesity: ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: a cross government strategy for England’ in January 2008.
Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government
The UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser is the personal adviser on science and technology-related activities and policies to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet; and head of the Government Office for Science....
(GCSA), Professor John Beddington
John Beddington
Sir John Rex Beddington, CMG, FRS is the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Professor of Applied Population Biology at Imperial College London.-Early life:...
who reports to the Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
and Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
and works with all Government departments.
The office is based in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government created on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform .-Ministers:The BIS...
where it works with other parts of the Department, including the Science and Research Group, which funds research through Research Council
Research Council
The UK Research Councils, of which there are currently seven, are publicly-funded agencies responsible for co-ordinating and funding particular areas of research, including the arts, humanities, all areas of science and engineering...
s and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
Networking
The Government Office for Science works collaboratively, using formal and informal networks, including colleagues in other departments and external experts. Together, they create and promote guidance and frameworks describing how departments can use the natural and social sciences, engineering and medicine to provide a sound evidence base for making policy. The guidance and frameworks encourage and support departments’ use and management of science, as well as challenging them to match best practice across Government and (where appropriate) outside.Advice
Government departments each have their own Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA), and CSAs work together on cross-cutting issues. In some cases the GCSA leads in advising the Government on major cross-cutting issues, working with other CSAs. In doing so he engages the best scientists nationally and often internationally to help him and ensure that his advice is as robust as possible.Main Networks
- Chief Scientific Advisers Committee
- Heads of Analysis Group (includes heads of all the main analytical professions in Government)
- Departmental Heads of Science and Engineering Profession
- Council for Science and TechnologyCouncil for Science and TechnologyThe Council for Science and Technology is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government. Its role is to give advice on issues that cut across government departments to the Prime Minister, the First Minister of Scotland and the First Minister for Wales. It was...
- Horizon Scanning Center Futures Analysts Network
- Global Science and Innovation Network (based in British Embassies and consulates)
Foresight
Much of the Government Office for Science's work looks to the future, focusing on what science and the evidence base can tell us about how the world could develop and what effects potential interventions might have. The Foresight program and its Horizon Scanning Center enable the Government to plan for the long term by providing a view of potential futures under a variety of conditions. Foresight projects address broad policy areas with a strong scientific component such as flooding and infectious diseases, whereas the Horizon Scanning Center conducts smaller projects across the full policy spectrum and increases the Government’s capability to think about the future systematically. Much of the value of Foresight comes from connecting experts from diverse disciplines and organizations with each other and with policymakers, and facilitating their collaboration to produce credible yet challenging visions of the future.A Typical Foresight Project
Tackling Obesities: future choices set out to offer new insights into the problem of rising obesity by gathering a range of multidisciplinary scientific evidence and taking a long-term view. The project set out to address the question: How can we deliver a sustainable response to obesity in the UK over the next 40 years?The project synthesized the evidence from over 30 science reviews which demonstrated that the determinants of obesity and their interrelationships were highly complex and in many cases environmental. In response to Foresight’s report the Government published a new strategy for obesity: ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: a cross government strategy for England’ in January 2008.