Where is the UK science minister? Government’s plans worry researchers
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03112-w
INTRO: The UK science community is urging the nation’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss to appoint a science minister — a post that has been vacant for nearly three months — and to recommit to the previous administration’s agenda to make the country a ‘science superpower’. The pleas come amid fears that Truss’s government will deprioritize research and that her economic agenda, which has sent Britain’s pound tumbling to record lows, will hurt UK scientists.
“It’s really important that the new government sends a really strong signal to the community that the ‘science superpower’ agenda is alive and well,” says Martin Smith, head of the Policy Lab at Wellcome, the biomedical-research funder in London. “It was a very strong part of [previous Prime Minister] Boris Johnson’s rhetoric and we haven’t seen evidence of that so far from the new administration.”
Conservative party members appointed Truss in early September after Johnson resigned in July. Her government is considered more right-wing than her predecessor’s and she has already made several decisions that worry scientists and research-policy analysts... (MORE - details)
Energy efficiency plan to help England's low-income homes
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environ...gn=KARANGA
INTRO: Low-income homes in England are to have their energy efficiency improved under a £1.5bn government plan that will also address poor insulation. The funding is being made available to local authorities and social housing providers with the aim of upgrading 130,000 homes.
Wall and loft insulation, double glazing, heat pumps and solar panels are all measures that could be funded. The UK currently has some of least energy efficient homes in Europe.
The £1.5bn will come from £6.6bn that was announced in 2021 as part of the government's Heat and Building Strategy. "By making homes warmer and cheaper to live in, we are not only transforming the lives of households across England," said Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg in a statement. "We are creating huge growth in the economy, backing the green energy sector and supporting thousands of high-skilled jobs." (MORE - details)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03112-w
INTRO: The UK science community is urging the nation’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss to appoint a science minister — a post that has been vacant for nearly three months — and to recommit to the previous administration’s agenda to make the country a ‘science superpower’. The pleas come amid fears that Truss’s government will deprioritize research and that her economic agenda, which has sent Britain’s pound tumbling to record lows, will hurt UK scientists.
“It’s really important that the new government sends a really strong signal to the community that the ‘science superpower’ agenda is alive and well,” says Martin Smith, head of the Policy Lab at Wellcome, the biomedical-research funder in London. “It was a very strong part of [previous Prime Minister] Boris Johnson’s rhetoric and we haven’t seen evidence of that so far from the new administration.”
Conservative party members appointed Truss in early September after Johnson resigned in July. Her government is considered more right-wing than her predecessor’s and she has already made several decisions that worry scientists and research-policy analysts... (MORE - details)
Energy efficiency plan to help England's low-income homes
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environ...gn=KARANGA
INTRO: Low-income homes in England are to have their energy efficiency improved under a £1.5bn government plan that will also address poor insulation. The funding is being made available to local authorities and social housing providers with the aim of upgrading 130,000 homes.
Wall and loft insulation, double glazing, heat pumps and solar panels are all measures that could be funded. The UK currently has some of least energy efficient homes in Europe.
The £1.5bn will come from £6.6bn that was announced in 2021 as part of the government's Heat and Building Strategy. "By making homes warmer and cheaper to live in, we are not only transforming the lives of households across England," said Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg in a statement. "We are creating huge growth in the economy, backing the green energy sector and supporting thousands of high-skilled jobs." (MORE - details)