The OST has made a welcome attempt to develop a sophisticated set of metrics for analysis of the UK Research Base. These will be used to develop the Department of Trade and Industry's Public Service Agreement Target that relates to the Science Base. The data show that the UK has all-round strengths in research, but that despite recent increases in the Science Budget, it is failing to match the investment of its competitor countries. We argue that the UK's future performance can only be improved through more investment; the data show that British researchers are highly productive.

We considered the OST's role in the Spending Review process. The Science Minister has been encouraging a cautious attitude among the Research Councils which is at odds with comments made by the Chancellor concerning the importance of science and innovation to the economy. We are concerned that the Research Councils may be tempted to submit a cautious proposal that will not stress that increased investment in the Science Base is still necessary.

The Government has conducted a number of reviews in 2003 that relate to science, research and innovation. These have been commissioned, variously, by the Treasury, the Higher Education Funding Councils, the Department of Trade and Industry, as well as the OST. We express concern that these reviews overlap to a great extent and that conducting highly focused reviews will lead to a fragmented approach to policy-making and a lost opportunity to consider more fundamental change.

The OST has set up the Science and Society Directorate and the Science Review Directorate in 2003. Both these are welcome innovations. We are less optimistic about the reconstituted Council for Science and Technology and argue that ad-hoc committees set up by the Chief Scientific Adviser would have more impact.