David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science shows commitment to public engagement

David Willetts, Minister of State for Universities and Science, has expressed the Government’s strong commitment to public engagement in the field of science and technology.

The Government has recently published two command papers responding to  the previous Parliament’s Commons Science and Technology Select Committee reports on the Impact of spending cuts on science and scientific research and the Lords Science and Technology Select Committee on Setting priorities for publicly funded research. In his response, the importance of open and transparent information in the public debate was noted:

“The Government welcomes the Select Committee’s wide ranging enquiries which are a valuable contribution to the public debate on this issue”. 

This reinforces David Willett’s call last month for science to have a strong voice in the national conversation. Noting the reports, the Minister also reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to investment in science, saying:

“I am committed to supporting the science community and encouraging scientific understanding more widely so we can tackle society’s major challenges”.

For the original press release please visit the BIS website.