Life Sciences Industrial Strategy published today
Today the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee publishes their final report from their inquiry into Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.
Entitled Who’s driving the bus?, the report focuses on the structures needed for implementation and oversight of the strategy, recommending a model for delivery, accountability and leadership that would see the establishment of a new statutory body. The proposed body would scrutinise the implementation of both the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy and the wider Industrial Strategy.
The report also calls for the establishment of a ‘Life Science Governing Body’ that would replace the existing Life Sciences Implementation Board and the Life Sciences Council. While the report calls for representation across sectors on this governing body, it will be important that the voice from SMEs is included, given their crucial role in the life sciences ecosystem. In drawing up the implementation plan, the body should also consider how it can best draw on expertise from the various disciplines and from related sectors like biotechnology, food, fuel and energy to support deliver of the strategy.
Wide-ranging recommendations
Other sections of the wide-ranging report cover the crucial role of the NHS in delivering the strategy, skills for life sciences and the impact of EU exit on the Life Sciences. On skills, the report aligns with our recommendation that delivering the life sciences strategy will require mechanisms across both higher and further education, quoting our written evidence on the need for high quality apprenticeships in support of this point.
On the UK’s exit from the EU, the report states that ‘immigration policy is central to the continued success of the UK life sciences sector’ and calls for collaboration with the Home Office to ensure that immigration policy is incorporated into the delivery plans for the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.
Interconnected impacts
The committee’s recommendation echoes our own messaging to government that delivery of the Industrial Strategy will be affected by the UK’s future relationship with the EU. "In developing the implementation plans for the Life Science Industrial Strategy and the Industrial Strategy more broadly, the government must take account of the interconnected impacts on funding and collaboration, mobility and regulation", says Dr Mindy Dulai, Royal Society of Chemistry Senior Policy Advisor. "Clarity on all three of these areas is crucial to the Industrial Strategy fulfilling its aim of improving growth across the UK."
