GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO PATCH UP RELATIONS WITH SCIENTISTS

Lord Drayson, the Science Minister, has moved to heal a rift between
the Government and the science community following the sacking of an
independent drugs adviser.

David Nutt was dismissed as chair of the Advisory Council on the
Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, on 30
October after questioning government policy.

Last week, a group of 28 senior scientists signed a set of principles
"for the treatment of independent scientific advice", which they are
calling on the Government to agree.

Lord Drayson said the blueprint contained "a number of very good
ideas". "What I want to do between now and Christmas is work with the
signatories of the principles and the scientific adviser network to
make sure that we come up with a clear set of ground rules," he said.

The principles cover "academic freedom", "independence of operation"
of independent scientific advisory committees and "proper
consideration of advice".

Notably absent from the signatories, however, is Sir David King, the
former chief scientific adviser. He told Times Higher Education he had
declined to sign on the grounds that one of the tenets put forward -
that when expert scientific advice is rejected "the reasons should be
described explicitly and publicly" - could deter the Government from
drawing on scientific expertise in future.

Sir David argued that while it was important for scientific advisers
to put their views into the public domain, they should not be
"explicitly critical of ministers" for not taking advice. "Scientists
need to recognise - and this is also not stated in the document - that
ministers are the representatives of the public," he said. "They have
been elected, we have not."

Two members of the ACMD resigned following Professor Nutt's sacking,
and the remaining members were due to meet Mr Johnson to discuss their
position this week.