March E-Bulletin 2012
In This E-Bulletin
Immigration
Upcoming events
Science in government
Liberal Democrats
CaSE News
Ongoing Work
Consultations

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Diary


29/02/12 Imran Khan attended a Cityforum and Prospect Magazine event on 'Regenerating the British Economy'

29/02/12 Imran Khan attended a UniversitiesUK debate on immigration

 

28/02/12 Imran Khan met with Home Office officials

 

27/02/12 Imran Khan met with AstraZeneca

 

27/02/12 Imran Khan met with NESTA

 

24/02/12 Imran Khan visited the National Physical Laboratory

 

21/02/12 Imran Khan met with the Government Office for Science

 

21/02/12 Beck Smith attended a BioIndustry Association Breakfast

 

17/02/12 Imran Khan met with the Medical Research Council

 

17/02/12 Imran Khan and Beck Smith met with Imagination Technologies

 

16/02/12 Imran Khan attended a meeting at the Science Media Centre

 

15/02/12 Imran Khan met with officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills  

 

14/02/12 Beck Smith met with the Society of Biology

 

13/02/12 Imran Khan met with the deputy departmental Chief Scientific Advisor at DEFRA

 

09/02/12 Imran Khan met with the new Chief Executive of AMRC 

 

07/02/12 Imran Khan met with Oxford University

 

07/02/12 Imran Khan met with Oxford Brookes University

 

07/02/12 Imran Khan gave a presentation on CaSE's work to the Oxford University Biochemical Society

 

02/02/12 Imran Khan attended a speech by the Immigration Minister Damian Green, hosted by Policy Exchange

 

01/02/12 Beck Smith attended a Foundation for Science and Technology dinner on the theme of BIS Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth

 

01/02/12 Imran Khan attended the Finance, Innovation & Growth event at the House of Commons

 

01/02/12 Imran Khan attended an IFS event on the Green Budget 2012
Please forward this on to any colleagues or friends you think would be interested in supporting science and engineering.

  
Immigration Campaigns Pay Off (Again) 
The Government  has announced new rules on migrant settlement, meaning immigrants now have to meet a salary threshold after five years here, or be forced to leave the country.

CaSE raised concerns over this with the Home Office, including via a well-publicised letter to The Times, and we're pleased that scientists and engineers will effectively be exempt from the new restrictions.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) also released their latest recommendations on 'Tier 2' immigration limits. These include exempting PhD-level occupations from some aspects of the RLMT, which restrict organisations from recruiting outside the EU until they've  advertised the position in their local Job Centre Plus.

CaSE has consistently argued that the RLMT is unworkable for many scientific and engineering positions, and we're pleased to see the MAC shares our view. For a fuller run-down of CaSE's work on immigration see here.
Upcoming Events
  • 'Politics for Scientists' Event - 13th March
    CaSE and the British Library are co-hosting an event; 'From lab bench to front bench: opportunities for scientists in policy'. Further details of the event can be found here. Please note that the event is aimed at practising scientists and engineers, rather than policy professionals, and the priority list will reflect this.
  • Voice of the Future - Tuesday 14th March
    This is an opportunity for your scientists and engineers to participate in an event with the Science Minister. For further details see here, and if you're under 35 and would like to attend, email us - we have spare places.
  • Science Question Time on UK Nuclear Policy - 15th March
    The next Science Question Time will be held on Thursday 15th March at the Institute of Physics, focusing on nuclear policy and politics. For further details, click here..   
For details about other events see our policy events calendar. 
Science in Government 
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has published its report on the role and functions of departmental Chief Scientific Advisers (CSAs). The report's recommendations echo those set out in CaSE's own evidence to the inquiry, and we welcome the Committee's findings.  

 

CaSE compiled a departmental CSA scorecard as part of its evidence submission, to rate each department (up to September 2011). For a more up-to-date scorecard, please see the special feature on CSAs in the latest edition of CaSE News.

 

CaSE Director Imran Khan also appeared on a recent Science Weekly podcast from the Guardian. In conversation with journalist Alok Jha, Imran discusses issues surrounding the role of science advice to government. 

Liberal Democrats Policy Review 

CaSE has responded to two Liberal Democrat policy reviews. Dr Julian Huppert, the MP for Cambridge, wrote to CaSE inviting us to contribute to his review of Lib Dem Science Policy. You can read our response to him here. 

 

The other call was from the party's working group on Sustainable Sources of Prosperity and Jobs. CaSE submitted evidence in person, arguing that whether you think of 'sustainability' in environmental or economic terms, science and engineering has to be a big part of the answer. For further details on CaSE's evidence click here.
CaSE News 69  
The latest issue of CaSE News has now been published.

 

As well as a round-up of CaSE's ongoing work, CaSE News 69 includes features on science and growth, House of Lords reform and departmental CSAs, as well as guest articles on the demand for more engineers in the UK, and the need for a 'science of science policy'.

Ongoing work
  • New Organisational Member
    We are pleased to welcome Bayer as members of CaSE
  • House of Lords Reform
    CaSE is planning a meeting to discuss the impact of the House of Lords reform on the level of science and engineering expertise in the upper chamber. For further details contact Beck Smith.       
  • Commercialisation of Research
    CaSE has responded to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee inquiry, Bridging the "valley of death": improving the commercialisation of research. The committee will report back later in the year.

Upcoming consultations  


Postgraduate Education Inquiry
Higher Education Commission
Deadline: 2nd April
For more information on our activities go to our website www.sciencecampaign.org.uk
 
To contact us please telephone 0207 679 4994 or email nickh@sciencecampaign.org.uk