My Lords, I start by declaring my personal interest as an investor in the UK research base and in some of the institutions that came out of science and other research councils. I am also an investor in the science base overseas.
Before we get into the meat of all the groups that we have—which I hope will go at some pace because we have a fair degree of agreement—it may be helpful if I just set out the view of these Benches on Part 3 of the Bill. According to the OECD, in tracking the change in government spending on R&D as a percentage of total government spending, between 2002 and 2015 there has been a very strong correlation with the investments that have been made that have created new and emerging tech pioneers, including across eastern Europe in Israel and in other places.
Korea, Germany and Japan have powered ahead with increases. Most countries have reduced, but of the major economies it appears that only France exceeded our almost 30% decline. In this context, the Government’s recent announcement of funding has had two major impacts. On the one hand, it has certainly helped to address the changes that we have witnessed over some time; there has now been some redress, and I hope we can get to the position where we were previously in
short order. On the other hand, it has laid a comforting blanket over the measures in this part of the Bill and provided an emollient soothing of concerns about where research is going.
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It is also worth noting that with regard to the major proposals in Part 3 there is a broad consensus that the proposals based on the Nurse evaluation are measured, sensible and worth a go. The outcomes that people are looking for are the ones that hold a fair consensus across the community. It is also better fair to say that the process by which they came involved some of the greatest brains and minds and some of our greatest practitioners, and should be seen in that context.
This part of the Bill needs some probing as there are some outstanding concerns. There are of course some very strong intended outcomes of the reform. We have a policy design whose test will be whether it can achieve that outcome, so we are going to probe not only the objectives but the means. We are going to probe whether it is better for universities, in helping to be able to fund the broad range of research required to ensure not just narrow economic definitions of growth but the importance of breadth; whether it is good for our general research base; whether these are effective measures; and whether we have reasonable confidence that there is enough flexibility to address failure or whether there may be a need to pivot some of the arrangements in order to create a better outcome.
The Bill also needs to be assessed against the Brexit decision, with all its impacts, challenges and opportunities. Indeed, many of the representations that we on these Benches have received have come from people who are concerned not particularly about the extreme possibility that the impact itself will be negative but the context in which these measures have arisen. The potential for reductions in funding, the loss of strategic place and some of the issues around researchers and students are particular concerns.
Our core issues will be about whether the newly invented UKRI will have the right performance metrics and KPIs in order to judge performance; whether we have a full enunciation of the Haldane principle adequately covered in the Bill; whether dual research funding and a reasonable balance operate effectively; whether we are really going to see the interdisciplinary benefits redolent in some of the text establishing the Bill; whether we are really going to be able to improve innovation; whether the governance has the right independence to allow those elements of the research community to flourish; and whether we have the right sort of structure.
There are concerns among some that universities could ditch research. Some argue that the Bill weakens the link between higher education, teaching and research. While universities have established that research is central to their mission, there is concern that some of the institutional strategies will necessarily change. There has been a trend for some years, as research funding has become concentrated among a smaller number of universities—for example, those in the Russell Group—and particular research institutes have been established, that there may be an ever-increasing prospect of teaching-only universities and research-only institutions. That
would have implications for students, institutions and the sector. So it would be helpful if the Minister could provide some observations on the desirability or not of such an outcome; whether this is a risk or a likelihood; whether the competition mechanics established in the Bill could lead to this or have been examined as to whether they will; what view the Government really have on the balance and blend of institutions and the relative balance of research and teaching; and whether there are any metrics or any evaluations by archetype as to what is the best series of arrangements or the best intended outcome.
I have to say that the main issue, the main deficiency, is the lack of clear metrics for measurement of performance. The structure of UKRI has yet to be fully determined. It will need to balance the need to produce a coherent and strategically oriented research and innovation body with a need to encourage the expertise embedded in the nine individual councils to be heard. It will need to maintain responsibility for strategic and cross-disciplinary matters while taking on the day-to-day administration, operational control and management in a manner that looks more like outsourcing than a coherent management structure.
Of course, there is always too much undeserved faith in the construction of a single accounting officer. More or less of something is a direction but not a destination. However, without some sense of where you are trying to get to, just starting a journey is never the most valuable way to go. So we are keen to have a stronger sense of the evaluation and the metrics. It is incumbent on the Government to ensure that confidence will grow in UKRI and there is a real sense of how performance will be measured and judged.
In moving Amendment 471A, and in addressing the others in the group, all of which we on these Benches support, we believe that even though we have had debates on the relationship between the OfS and UKRI, it is very important that there should be a strong emphasis on the nature of their collaboration and strong co-operation from the beginning. The purpose of the amendment is to address the distance between the Government’s stated intentions and their drafting. We are trying to make some helpful and friendly suggestions which I hope will get Part 3 off to a good start
The amendments look to strengthen the requirement for co-operation between the OfS and UKRI because we are trying to establish some form of prescription as to how and why they need to co-operate. The amendments probe the crucial relationship between the two new behemoth institutions and, we hope, will provide a stronger direction.
This does not just address the real issues at the interface of research and teaching, such as the awarding of research degrees. It is about whether the Government’s stated commitment on the integration of research and teaching has the necessary safeguards—which, some have said, look limited and weak in the Bill. It will be useful for the Minister to provide us with the right level of assurances, similar to or better than those we had earlier in the Bill.
The Government have conceded some of the merits of the argument, but it is important to find the best way to develop the appropriate joint governance
arrangements that will embed working principles and practice in the framework documents to be established for UKRI and OfS. But it is very important to define at the beginning what we are looking to achieve. Amendment 471A specifies that there should be,
“one member of the OfS Board with at least observer status”,
as a member of UKRI. There is nothing like establishing a principle that if two organisations have to collaborate, there should be a capacity for them to do so at all the right levels. It provides the message that this is not just practically useful but important symbolically. The Government could have a reasonable argument that this in itself would not solve the problem. That is true. Having one person does not mean that the issue is solved, but it is a measure to ensure that there is at least some sense that at the top levels the architecture of governance meshes. That is very important.
We also believe that the OfS and UKRI need to have other forms of meshing together—which demonstrates that the Government have divided responsibility at departmental level. It is very important to establish that the processes and guidelines that exist, and those elements that could be in the Bill, are there to ensure that there is an effective and close working relationship between the research and teaching functions. I beg to move.