Extracts from the Commons debate (July 8) on the Government's Response to the Select Committee Report

• `The way both the Government and the STFC handled the budget process was, to put it mildly, deeply flawed. Disappointingly, rather than engage with the criticisms, the Government have rejected almost all of the conclusions and recommendations that followed' - Phil Willis MP
• `The community itself has now lost what confidence it had in the senior management of the STFC and it might only be regained by a radical reconstruction of its leadership' - David Howarth MP
• `[STFC's] inability to communicate properly with its own community will, I hope, be put right in the future. In redressing the balance, the STFC clearly has some difficult times ahead, but the fact that it has listened-albeit belatedly-not only to the Committee, but to its community, is a positive step' - Phil Willis MP
• `The Government rejected the bulk of our conclusions and recommendations, and we acknowledge that they have every right to do so, but they do not have the right to traduce what the Committee said or to produce a response that was impolite, inaccurate and, at times, incomprehensible. That is unacceptable and should be challenged' - Phil Willis MP
• `The Government were hasty in rejecting our recommendations regarding the transparency of the allocations process, and in particular our suggestion that documents prepared for bilateral negotiations between the Government and the research councils should be published as a matter of course, which goes to the heart of the issue of transparency and communications with the community.' - Phil Willis MP
• `Surely, if the Government follows their own guidelines and the Haldane principle, they should not be putting pressure on research councils to invest money in any specific location, as they have done by repeatedly voicing a desire to see world-class science facilities at Daresbury and by outlining their specific vision for the Daresbury Campus to be a partnership between the STFC and others' - Phil Willis MP
• `The Government assured us that there would be no legacy issues associated with the merger. They got it wrong and they should take responsibility for that, rather than hiding behind other people's decisions. Will the Minister consider a modest STFC uplift to prevent significant grant cuts if Professor Bill Wakeham recommends that when he reports in the autumn?' - Phil Willis MP
• `Despite the depth of the inquiry, we still have not got to the bottom of the extent to which the issue arose from the initial funding problems of STFC, as the Government response was inadequate in that respect. They simply refute allegations made by the Committee, instead of establishing detailed evidence about the funding of CCLRC and PPARC when they were disbanded, and when STFC took over from them' - Roberta Blackman-Woods MP
• `I would have thought that [Govt] must at least see the STFC's actions as a PR disaster. It was most unfortunate that neither the Government's response nor that of the STFC acknowledged the damage that has been done to the trust of students and the academic community in general, and more needs to be done to bring that back into being' - Roberta Blackman-Woods MP
• `The Committee is chaired by a Liberal Democrat, a genuine Liberal, and for him to use words such as ``deplore'', ``inaccurate'' and ``unconvincing'' to describe the evidence given by the chief executive of the STFC is about as strong as it gets. Frankly, I am surprised that, having had that level of public criticism, the chief executive is still in his position. That criticism did not come from nowhere, but was based on evidence.' - Graham Stringer MP
• `[STFC] did not inherit a deficit, but it did not have the money to fund ongoing commitments. That is a very fine distinction and it is really not worthy of my Government to say that they honoured a commitment. What the commitment meant in plain English was that there would not be any cuts to future programmes; but what the funding situation meant was that such cuts were likely' - Graham Stringer MP
• `In the final analysis, however, on such big issues, I should know whether the decision [about Jodrell Bank] has been taken by the chief executive of the STFC or by a Minister. Unfortunately, throughout this process lines of accountability have been breached, and nothing is clear.' - Graham Stringer MP
• `Questions are always raised in Select Committee inquiries about who is to blame, and the temptation is to blame the research council staff-and we strongly criticised them. However, the danger is that that is seen as scapegoating someone who has to make difficult decisions. It is true that the Committee said that those decisions were made badly, but sacking the management is not necessarily the answer, because the problems will live on.' - Evan Harris MP
• `I was concerned that the STFC may have misinterpreted one of our recommendations, which was to improve communications. I do not think that that meant that it should improve its spin.' - Evan Harris MP
• `Why have the Secretary of State [..] and the Minister for Science and Innovation been on the back foot, instead of on the front foot where they should proudly be? The simple explanation, in my opinion, is that the two major reviews that I have just mentioned [Sainsbury, Cooksey], combined with the significant shift in research priorities to meet the needs of a modern society, have resulted in significant cuts in some research programmes. Let us not forget that other research programmes have benefitted significantly. There has been a significant shift in the MRC research budget and the BBSRC research budget - a shift towards the life sciences, perhaps, and away from the physical sciences. Let us not believe that the money is not there; it is just being moved around' - Brian Iddon MP
• `Astronomy has been hit quite hard [..] The overall headline figure that the STFC gave for reductions in new commitments to research grants was 25 per cent. That means fewer astronomers, fewer particle physicists and fewer nuclear scientists. However, the Government appear to be contradicting the research councils [..] Will the Minister explain how the level of rolling grants can be reduced and unaffected at the same time? - Adam Afriyie MP
• `The recent crisis represents either departmental incompetence-missing the cuts that were self-evident in what was presented to it-or a deliberate decision to provide the research councils with less than was needed [..] Will the Minister admit that there has been a shortfall in funding for the STFC and say that he accepts some responsibility?' - Adam Afriyie MP
• `The Government are working with the STFC to review the way in which its allocation was handled, and to ensure that all the relevant lessons are learned for the future. In particular, the STFC has recognised that it could have communicated its plans better, and it is taking steps to address that. The STFC will take account of these lessons as it takes forward the organisational review, which will cover strategy and planning, customer and stakeholder engagement, governance and risk-management processes, delivery, value for money and the management of change' - Ian Pearson MP