Professor Sir John Beddington comments on the appointment of the next Government Chief Scientific Adviser
Professor Sir John Beddington responds to the Cabinet Office appointment of Sir Mark Walport as Government Chief Scientific Adviser.
Professor Sir John Beddington said:
The role of the Government Chief Scientific Adviser is enormously important as we face the challenges of the 21st century. I am delighted to hear of the appointment of Sir Mark Walport who is a long time colleague and friend. I very much look forward to working with him over the next few months and to helping him integrate into the networks of scientists and engineers that I have had the privilege to work with during my time as GCSA.
Notes to editors:
- The government’s economic policy objective is to achieve ‘strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries.’ It set 4 ambitions in the ‘Plan for Growth’, published at Budget 2011:
- to create the most competitive tax system in the G20
- to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business
- to encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy
- to create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in Europe
Work is underway across government to achieve these ambitions, including progress on more than 250 measures as part of the Growth Review. Developing an Industrial Strategy gives new impetus to this work by providing businesses, investors and the public with more clarity about the long-term direction in which the government wants the economy to travel.