UK national laboratories face new threat of privatization

Article Abstract:

UK national laboratories are once again facing privatization as board of trade Pres Michael Heseltine issued a call for cultural change to enable them to keep up with the practices and values of industry. The new threat came three years after the National Physical Laboratory, Warren Spring Laboratory, National Weights and Measures Laboratory, Laboratory of the Government Chemist and National Engineering Laboratory were made executive agencies responsible for paying for their contracts they enter into. Laboratory managers and staff warned that such a move could be counterproductive and blamed their inability to support industry on budget cuts and staff reductions.

Planning, Laws, regulations and rules, Privatization, Privatization (Business), Government laboratories

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UK watchdog boosts science credentials

Article Abstract:

The new Select Committee on Science and Technology in the UK has an 11 member committee, most of which have science or engineering qualifications. New chairman Michael Clark took his doctorate at the University of Cambridge, followed by a career as a research scientist, before entering parliament in 1983. The committee's first two inquiries will involve further and higher education reviews and an examination of possible year 2000 problems faced by computers.

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Bleak prospects for physics research council

Article Abstract:

UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council officials warn that pressures on government spending threaten the future of the council. The council has not been able to launch major new scientific projects due to spending pressures. Fortunately, the council remains committed to participate in the construction of the Large Hadron Collider at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.

Research, Management, Evaluation, Science and state, Science policy, Physics, Astronomical research

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