Britain: An official handbook > 1966

204
BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
The Council
on Scientific
Policy
The Ministry
of Technology
Advisory
Council on
Technology
to the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux (ASLIB)
(see p. 220). There are at present four research councils for which the
Secretary of State for Education and Science is responsible: the Science
Research Council (see p. 211), the Medical Research Council (see p. 213),
the Agricultural Research Council (see p. 214), and the Natural Environment
Research Council (see p. 218). Others may be established under the terms
of the Science and Technology Act.
In the exercise of his responsibilities for the formulation and execution of
government scientific policy the Secretary of State for Education and Science
is advised by the Council on Scientific Policy (CSP), which replaced the
former Advisory Council on Scientific Policy. The Council, which was
appointed in January 1965, consists of a chairman and thirteen other members;
unlike its predecessor the new Council is composed entirely of independent
members. There are, in addition, assessors from the research councils and
from the University Grants Committee. Among the issues with which the
Council is concerned is the balance of scientific effort in those areas for
which the Secretary of State is responsible.
The Ministry of Technology has the general responsibility of guiding and
stimulating a major national effort to bring advanced technology and new
processes into British industry.
The Ministry has taken over sponsorship responsibility for the machine
tool and computer industries from the Board of Trade and for the electronics
and telecommunications industries from the Ministry of Aviation and the
General Post Office respectively. The Technical Support Unit, formerly
under the Treasury, forms the basis of a Computer Advisory Unit. The
Ministry undertakes technical and economic studies of selected industries
and processes to determine where action is needed, followed by the preparation
and implementation of specific programmes for technological advance,
particularly in those branches of industry for which it has assumed sponsor¬
ship. The Ministry is also responsible for examining, in collaboration with
other government departments, other factors affecting technological advance,
including engineering standards practice, the use of public purchasing
contracts and the status and supply of engineers and technologists.
The Ministry is responsible for important research laboratories (see
p. 211). Arrangements have been made to continue the long-standing close
association of the Royal Society with the work of the National Physical
Laboratory. The Ministry gives financial aid to 48 co-operative industrial
research associations. In discharge of a responsibility under the Science and
Technology Act 1965, to further the practical application of research, it
maintains a regional service and helps to finance industrial liaison officers
centred on colleges of technology and technical colleges throughout the
country.
The Minister is responsible for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy
Authority, which he may require to undertake research and development
outside nuclear energy, and for the National Research Development
Corporation.
The Minister of Technology is chairman of the Advisory Council on Tech¬
nology, set up to advise on the application of advanced technology in British
industry. There is a deputy chairman and ten other members, representing
scientific, economic, trade union and industrial interests.