76. The Science Budget has two Strategic Objectives relating to science and society initiatives (see Table 6), essentially to enhance public awareness of publicly funded science and increase the impact of activities undertaken by the Research Councils.

77. OST's Science in Society programme provides core funding for the British Association for the Advancement of Science and funds grants for science communication activities through the Copus grants scheme. It also promotes networking and sharing of best practice, for example by funding ECSITE-UK, the network for science and discovery centres. We have considered in the past the Government's expenditure on bodies concerned with the public understanding of science and expressed concern over the direction of Copus, an organisation that has since been disbanded.[91] Research Councils conduct their own science and society activities and spend around 0.5% of their budget in this area.

78. From 2003-04, in addition to the existing £1.25 million annual budget which is set aside for these purposes, a further £1 million per year will be made available among other things to fund the implementation of the recommendations from the science in society study carried out by the British Association (BA) on behalf of the science communication community, commissioned by OST and published in November 2002. OST held a consultation on the BA's proposals and published its response in September 2003. It suggests a number of new initiatives, which are set out in Table 6.

Table 6: Summary of proposed actions by OST.

Science in Society activities database	Undertake a snapshot survey of science in society activities; establish, on a two year pilot basis, an activities database and web site
National public surveys	On a biennial basis, undertake a national public survey which will seek to establish, inter alia, the public's participation in existing science in society activity; barriers to participation; the areas of science that interest them; their interests more generally; their awareness of specific areas of science; and their attitudes towards science and scientists.
Needs analysis	Undertake analysis comparing data from the two activities above (science in society provision against need).
Activity evaluation	Seek to establish best practice for evaluating science in society activities and commission research as necessary; further develop evaluation of activities we currently support, including National Science Week and the BA Annual Festival.
Special group research	Ensure that any public surveys we fund provide sufficient data on those groups who are under-represented in science in society activities; Continue to make projects that seek to widen participation in science in society activity a theme of the Copus grants scheme (funded in large part by OST) and include this theme within the OST grants scheme (see below).
Media monitoring	Produce an annual summary of media coverage of science.
Annual providers' conference/forum	Support the establishment of an annual providers' conference/forum; provide a networking fund; establish networking as a theme of the OST grants scheme.
OST work plan consultation	Consult on our science in society programme every two years to coincide with the Government's Spending Review cycle.
OST call for proposals	From 2004-05, consolidate OST grant support into one grant scheme and sub-contract the running of this scheme.
Evaluation of the process	Evaluate this new programme once it is firmly established.
Advisory group	Establish a Strategy Advisory Group to advise us on our programme.

Source: Office of Science and Technology, Implementation of the recommendations in the British Association report 'Science in Society', Annex 1

79. The second of the Science Base targets seeks to improve the impact of Research Council-funded research. We have found in our scrutiny of the Research Councils a need for greater coherence. The BA's Report addressed the science communication community more generally and the role that the Research Councils play is not explored fully. We believe that Research Councils UK should consider the role they play and how a more collective approach could increase their activities in this area.

80. We are pleased that the OST has developed a coherent strategy for science and society following the collapse of Copus. We will follow its progress with great interest. The OST must ensure, however, that gathering statistics is not a substitute for action. The UK needs a more effective dialogue on scientific issues and we are looking to the OST to provide the impetus.

81. The GM debate has shown the importance of the scientific community, and the Government, being on the front foot when scientific controversies arise. The Government's decision to commission a study from the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering into the ethical and societal issues that may arise from nanotechnology was sensible. A useful activity for the Science and Society Directorate would be to provide a horizon-scanning capability to identify issues such as this in the future and to commission such studies.