CaSE has today published its December e-bulletin, giving a summary of all CaSE’s activities over the last month. These include:
- CaSE welcomed the £200m of extra investment in science and engineering announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement this week. CaSE’s comments received coverage in The Times, Guardian, BBC News and elsewhere. We previously welcomed the £100m extra science investment announced in the 2011 budget, and the £195m announced at the Conservative Party conference, which brings the total extra investment announced to almost £0.5bn. However, this is set against an effective £1.7bn cut in the 2010 Spending Review, despite the Government’s claims that it ‘froze’ the science budget.
- The Times has published a letter, organised by CaSE, which warns that Government proposals to drastically limit the settlement rights of migrants coming into the UK could seriously damage the country’s science and engineering base. The letter was signed by two former Presidents of the Royal Society, Lord Rees and Lord May, the former Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, Lord Willis, and the Director of the Wellcome Trust, Sir Mark Walport, alongside other individuals from across the science and engineering sector.
- A Freedom of Information request by CaSE revealed how a £3.4m shortfall in funding is putting the Isis neutron source, a £400m world-leading facility, out of action for a third of its operational year. The loss in scientific capacity at Isis is one of the earliest consequences of the cuts to the science budget, more of which will become prevalent over the coming years. The Guardian published a news story based on our findings, looking at the consequences for everything from clean energy to biotechnology research.
- CaSE held a strategy meeting to discuss its future policy direction, hosted by the Wellcome Trust and sponsored by the Institute of Physics and the Biochemical Society. The event was preceded by a General Meeting, which included the election of our new Governing Board.
