Politicians on the Case

In response to the Campaign for Science and Engineering, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have expanded on their manifesto pledges for science and engineering.
The Conservatives are pledging to postpone the Research Excellence Framework (REF) by two years. In addition they stated that, if an appropriate system for measuring impact cannot be found, they will scrap it altogehter.
The Lib Dems intend to increase the number of postdoc places by reducing 'under-utilised' PhDs. They will also move Science more centre stage by moving the Government Office to the Cabinet Office. They also hope to tackle the crisis in UK physics, which is taken to mean they will deal with the budgetary problems over at STFC.
The full responses can be seen on the CaSE blog. The Labour response to CaSE is due shortly.

Lib Dems Join Tories in Questioning Impact Assessment

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, has outlined his party's aims for science and research. Among the list are some thoughts on research funding. He said that funding should be allocated according to 'broader priorities' rather than being 'distorted by narrow impact assessments.' In addition, he expressed some concern over the impact agenda, and in particular the REF. He stated that he wanted to find a way to assess research that did not damage fundamental science.

Overall, his speech to the Royal Society was short on detail, and he did not go as far as the Tories in saying that they would delay the REF. However, it did demonstrate that he seemed to be thinking more along Tory lines than Labour.