Technology Strategy Board Order 2007

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Roberts, for his very welcome support for the TSB. I will have to write to the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Chesterton, on his points on the data. But I can comment on the points that he raised on how the new TSB will work with organisations such as the European Institute of Technology and other European bodies: the TSB will certainly collaborate with the European Institute of Technology when this is established and the Technology Strategy Board will seek to collaborate with all bodies—international, national, regional or local—with an interest in promoting innovation in the UK. The noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, mentioned collaboration—the relationship between RDAs, the TSB and so on—and the need to avoid duplication. The TSB will have a duty to collaborate with all these bodies but it will be tasked with having a special care to avoid duplication. The noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, again raised the question of the move to Swindon and whether, in his words, this was ““jobs for the boys””—and perhaps the girls as well. I could say a lot about Swindon but I will say that it was selected following a wide-ranging review of 14 possible locations against a set of objective criteria and specific sites proposed by the regional development agencies. The criteria covered the local skills base, transport links for the board’s stakeholders and quality of life indicators. Swindon became the strongest candidate because of the following: its geographical situation, given that the body of stakeholders will be coming from government and business; the accommodation immediately available in Swindon, with back-office functions shared with the research councils; the proximity of those research councils; and the likelihood of more existing DTI London-based staff transferring and thus reducing relocation and redundancy costs. It was also felt that a move to Swindon would create benefits, including enhanced efficiency and service delivery, together with social and economic benefits for the surrounding area. So, generally, a move to Swindon was thought to be a very good idea. I was asked about the nature of the relationship between the department and the Technology Strategy Board. Day-to-day decisions will be taken independently by the board. However, the board will be appointed by the Secretary of State and, under its charter, will be obliged to spend its money in accordance with any directions issued by the Secretary of State. The relationship between the board and the department will be set out in a management statement and financial memorandum, which will specify the detail of the department’s controls over the board. I was also asked how much the change will cost and what the financial benefits will be. The costs associated with the delivery of the technology programme through the new TSB will not exceed the current costs of delivery arrangements within the DTI, based on a programme spend of £178 million per annum. However, we expect efficiency gains over time in respect of the administrative work that is presently outsourced. In addition, the new body is expected to result in improved effectiveness in delivery of the programme. It is true that transitional costs will be associated with setting up the TSB, but it is currently not possible to give precise costs for the transition process as the organisational design and business processes of the new body are not yet completed, and those will obviously impact on any reorganisation costs. Again, I shall write to noble Lords to cover any points that I have not dealt with in regard to the Technology Strategy Board being an arm’s-length body. The current board is purely an advisory body. The idea behind that is that the new TSB will have an executive status. That will enable the future board to deliver functions currently carried out within the DTI, including taking over the delivery of the£178 million technology programme, which I mentioned. That includes grants for collaborative research and development and support for knowledge transfer networks. On Question, Motion agreed to.