POST has a permanent staff of six scientific
and technical specialists, a Director and two PA’s. These are complemented by
the POST fellows (see below) of whom there are usually 5–6 present at any time.
It is difficult to give an authoritative figure for the total annual budget of
POST as many services such as accommodation, IT, training, etc. are provided
centrally by the UK Parliament. However, annual direct operational costs are
about 500,000 GBP.
All POST research is conducted
in-house by either its permanent staff or by one of its doctoral/post-doctoral
fellows. These fellowships are a distinctive feature of POST. They are funded
by many UK charitable scientific foundations, by learned societies, by most of
the UK’s Research Councils and by individual universities. Through them,
fellows spend usually three months at POST, working on one of its well-known »POSTnotes«
or assisting a parliamentary committee. Well over 100 such fellows have now
been at POST.
POST’s work lies heavily in the area
of »expert analysis« conducted by the staff and fellows but augmented by an
intense dialogue with outside individuals and organisations with a relevance to
the subject area.
POST has, however, pioneered various
methods of public engagement in the UK. It co-sponsored the first and second UK
national »consensus conferences« – on genetically modified foods and
radioactive waste management. A particular development was POST’s first-time
use of online consultations at the UK Parliament, developed in partnership with
committees during the course of an inquiry. POST has also organised public
consultation meetings held in the constituency of a Commons Board member.
In
2007, the House of Commons Public Administration Committee recommended that
POST should spearhead at the UK Parliament a greater focus on longer term
issues. In many ways such a focus has always permeated POST’s work, but, in
responding to the committee’s welcome recommendation, POST has put additional
effort into this area, often in collaboration with the UK government’s
Foresight and Horizon Scanning units.
Most of POST’s publications take the form of
one of its well-known four-page »POSTnotes«. After considerable
experimentation, this format was chosen largely because busy parliamentarians
do not have the time to read lengthier documents. A great deal of effort is put
into compressing information into this limit, and in meeting the challenge of
making a publication at the same time accessible to non-specialists but
commanding the approval of experts in the field. Several other parliamentary TA
units have adopted a similar style of summary as part of their publication
programme – and POSTnotes have even been translated by them for circulation in
their own countries.
POST also produces longer reports. The most
recently published was on »Living with Environmental Limits«, while an ongoing
longer report is a »Decadal Review of Stem Cell Research«, examining
developments in the area over the past ten years, as recommended by a special
House of Lords committee that reviewed regulatory legislation. Even with these
long reports, one or more »POSTnote« style summaries is produced to make the
key findings accessible to those who cannot examine the main report.
All POST publications are subjected to
extensive external peer review by government departmental, academic, enterprise
and NGO specialists before release. This is a key feature of POST’s publication
process.
Either at the start of a study, during its
course, or after publication, POST frequently organises parliamentary seminars
to discuss its studies. These are complemented by other conferences and
workshops. Recent examples include sessions on the Future of Food and Farming
and on the Implications of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Incident. Both filled some of
the largest meeting rooms in the UK Parliament to capacity.
POST also collaborates with external
organisations to hold interactive exhibitions and presentations at the UK
Parliament. Notable recent events have covered the future of energy research;
robotics futures and polar research.
POST was a founding member of EPTA and has
always enthusiastically participated in its activities. POST has been honoured
to be approached by countries such as Chile, Japan, Norway and Sweden that were
considering creating a parliamentary TA function. POST has also worked closely
with the Science Policy Division of UNESCO in its work programme on Science,
Technology and Parliaments.
Impact is difficult to assess due to the
logistical and administrative obstacles encountered when attempting to survey
or interview Parliamentarians, together with the fact that POST is one of many organisations
delivering commentary on scientific issues. Nevertheless, some POST qualitative
and quantitative data on POST’s impact is available and indicates that POST is
a valued organisation. POST is currently developing more systematic ways of
gathering and analyzing such data.
Around 220 MPs, 170 Peers, 10 MEPs,
44 MP researchers and 160 other parliamentary staff have »opted in« to
receive copies of all POSTnotes. Those who are not on this mailing list still
routinely pick up POSTnotes from the parliamentary libraries. Anecdotal reports
indicate that Members are often seen holding and using POSTnotes in the
debating chamber.
POSTnotes are particularly valued for their
impartiality. In a survey conducted in 2009 one MP commented »There is so much
depending on scientific judgements and scientific information and often it
appears in the media as a particular slant, the key thing is that POST is
independent and I have to say that I read their publications and I think they
are excellent, just the right length and they are impartial and they are clear
and I think it is excellent to have that«. The same survey indicated that over
80 % of parliamentarians (out of a sample of 50) had used POSTnotes more
than once in the past year.
In many cases POSTnotes are used to inform the
work of Parliamentary Select Committees – for example POSTnote 368 on Rare
Earth Metals was used to inform an inquiry into Critical Mineral Resources by
the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. POSTnotes are
also often incorporated into »debate packs« which are information packs
provided to Members prior to a debate.
POSTnotes are known to have considerable impact
outside Parliament. This is indicated by download statistics, which show that
POSTnotes usually account for around a third of all downloads from the
Parliamentary website. Each month at least one POSTnote features among the top
5 most downloaded documents. POST also over 1,200 followers on twitter, a
number which is rapidly growing, although only a small proportion of these are
Members of Parliament. It also has a newsletter which has over 3,500
subscribers.
POST
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
House of Commons
7 Millbank
Westminster
London SW1P 3JA
United Kingdom
Director:
Dr. Chris Tyler
Fon +44
20 7219 2840
Fax +44 20 7219 2849
