Select Committee inquiry into the funding of science and discovery centres
Ecsite members will be aware that after a sustained advocacy campaign of drip dripping our message into the ears of supportive MP's, we managed to get the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology to hold a short inquiry into the funding of science and discovery centres. Following submission of written evidence, several individuals were called to give verbal evidence - I was asked to attend to represent Ecsite-uk.
What were my impressions? Well, it was a short inquiry of only two hours duration and consisted of three panels each answering questions for about 40 mins - the first panel was science centres and museums; the second comprised funders and consultants and the third was made up of government ministers. The tone was friendly, after all we had not been summoned to account for squandering millions of pounds of tax payers money - quite the contrary.
Clare Matteson from the Wellcome Trust, who represented one the sector's principal funders, was excellent. She was powerful and persuasive and, of course, a third party endorsement carries so much more impact that trumpet blowing from ourselves.
The three Ministers had only been in post 10 days and so were able to claim newness when asked tricky questions. They were all - Ian Pearson (Science Minister and successor to Lord Sainsbury), Jim Knight, (Minister for Schools and Learners) and Margaret Hodge (DCMS Minister) very complimentary about science centres but reluctant to accept responsibility for them. It was only when the Chair of the Committee, Phil Willis, demanded an answer that Pearson said he supposed as Science Minister he was responsible for science centres! He did agree to meet with Ecsite to look at our case afresh and I have written to him to try and pin down a date. Nothing was promised, of course, but it is a positive step forward in keeping the dialogue open with a new Minister.
All the written evidence is now available to download if you want to see
it
on:
www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/SCmemoforwebupload.pdf
I guess we will not see any recommendation from the Committee before October at the earliest but let's hope it's positive and helps strengthen our case.
Linda Conlon
Chair, Ecsite-uk