MP Ian Taylor has called on the government to set up a
Department of Science and Innovation with a seat in the
cabinet.
Ian Taylor, the chair of the Conservative Party’s Science and
Technology Policy Task Force, said the UK’s biggest challenges over
the next 20 years will need to be tackled with technological
tools.
He lists climate change, terrorism, GM crops and health care as
areas that the key subjects of science, technology, engineering and
mathematics will be employed in.
Mr Taylor said the department should be headed by a Secretary of
State. “This would recognise the critical importance of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics to the UK economy and the
fact that it underpins so much of public policy," he added.
He envisages the department being a central resource and policy
centre, rather than being a centre for the management of
large-scale public services.
Taylor made the call for the new department at the Real Time
Club 40th anniversary dinner on Tuesday.
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