The United Kingdom’s strong science and engineering base is one of our greatest assets as a nation, with an unparalleled record of invention and innovation driven by world-leading firms and universities.
But our economy is only now picking up after the slowest recovery from a recession in a century and a lot of people are still struggling.
We need a plan for working families and business to succeed together. One that will raise living standards, create more high-skill, high-wage jobs, support our leading firms and sectors in planning for the future and ensure Britain can make the most of new technological advances.
Science and engineering are central to this, as well as managing the wider global challenges of the 21st century, from tackling climate change and making the transition to a low carbon economy, to delivering a world-class National Health Service that supports the needs of an ageing society.
We have to address persistently lower levels of investment and productivity relative to other advanced economies by developing long-term planning for major public investments in research and infrastructure. We need to sort out our university finances that are at risk from a bankrupt student loan system while addressing the serious skills shortages in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects – there is a looming shortfall of more than 400,000 engineers in the next decade, threatening our ability to grow our leading sectors and meet the challenges of the future. Last, government needs to remove the current uncertainty of Britain’s future position in the European Union and strengthen science advice in all areas of government, developing good practice.
As a party member since 1968 I know Labour understands that Britain only succeeds when working people succeed.
We should build on the previous Labour government’s 10 year funding framework for science, with a strategy that will signal our priorities for science and innovation – supporting Britain to take advantage of new technological developments in a digital age and tackling the major 21st century challenges such as climate change and an ageing society.
We should also look at how to make smarter use of departmental data and spending to inform policy-making and ensure investments in research and development, in areas such as energy, transport and health, are being used strategically to support growth and innovation in our leading sectors.
As a country we need to work together to meet the skills gap. For this to succeed we need to support more young women to do science, technology, engineering and maths subjects and go into careers in science and engineering. We also need to take on the challenge of those ‘little Englanders’ who think we can manage without skilled migrants. Overseas students are not only a huge asset but can help us grow our economy into new markets. The final part of that equation is to recognise that in every corner of the country both in academia and industry we have great scientists and engineers and we need to adopt policies that exploit that talent everywhere in the UK.
Finally, a strong science policy needs well-informed policy makers, so it is vital in this rapidly changing world that we create stronger mechanisms to help members of parliament keep up to date. The Royal Society pairing scheme and the great work done by learned societies in parliament need to grow and elected members need to be encouraged to engage. Without that engagement we will miss the great opportunities that our scientists and engineers present us with.
———————————
Andrew Miller MP is chair of the science and technology select committee. He tweets @APMiller1949
———————————
Photo: University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment