Evaluation of the Scottish Parliament Science

Information Service
10 January 2005

Background
Following the establishment in February 2002 of the Royal Society of
Chemistry’s Parliamentary Links Scheme, which linked local MSPs with a
local chemist and was aimed at improving MSPs’ access to sound information
and advice on science subjects, initial discussions were held between the
Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the
University of Edinburgh (UoE) and the Scottish Parliament information Centre
(SPICe) to discuss ways of widening access to science information for MSPs
by setting up a science information scheme. The intention was that the
scheme, ‘the Scottish Parliament Science Information Service’ (SPSIS), would
operate through both the RSC and SPICe to provide Members and their staff
with access to accurate and impartial information and advice across the whole
range of science, technology and engineering subjects.

It was agreed to run the scheme initially as a 12 month pilot. As a first step
the RSE and the UoE agreed to produce a discipline/subject list and to recruit
expert co-ordinators for each subject area. Fifty two Topic Coordinators were
identified for their ability to swiftly identify experts in their field who would be
prepared to assist with any enquiries. Guidance for Topic Coordinators and
for Experts was produced to ensure there was clear advice on the form and
nature of briefings and the timescale that any briefing was required to be
produced within.

Associate members of the service are: Institute of Physics in Scotland; Royal

Incorporation of Architects in Scotland; Society for General Microbiology;
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the University of
Edinburgh. They assist with identifying Experts in their fields of expertise.

An initial meeting of the organisers and the Topic Co-ordinators, chaired by

Sarah Boyack MSP Convener of the then Environment and Rural

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Development Committee, was held at the Parliament in June 2003 and the
pilot was launched in the Parliament on 18 September of that year. A
message of support was received from the Parliament’s Presiding officer and
eighteen MSPs attended the launch, a healthy number for such an event.

Evaluation
Publicising the Scottish Parliament Science Information Service
It was agreed at an early stage that it was important to have an effective
advertising strategy in place to ensure that members were aware of the
SPSIS. Within the Parliament, the service was ‘advertised’ on the SPICe
Research pages of the Parliament’s intranet ‘SPEIR’ (see below). In addition,
the service was featured on the front page of SPEIR for a week following its
launch and leaflets describing the service were made available in the
Parliament’s Information Centre.

The SPSIS was advertised through leaflets circulated to MSPs and the RSC’s
monthly e bulletin. A banner has also been produced for display at science
events attended by MSPs such as the RSC’s Science and the Parliament
event. The banner looks like this:

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The following text appears as standard in the monthly e bulletin for MSPs
issued by the RSC.

Scottish Parliament Science Information Service

The Scottish Parliament Science Information Service has been set up to
ensure that all Members of the Scottish Parliament have access to
reliable, rapid and impartial information on science, engineering and
technology-related issues in order to help inform parliamentary
activities. Briefings have already been provided on Biomass for energy,
GM Crop Trials, TETRA masts and ventilation systems for smoking. To
request a briefing please contact Willie Rennie, Royal Society of
Chemistry on 0131 220 6779 or the Scottish Parliament Information
Centre on 0131 348 5300.

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Enquiries from MSPs
Despite these efforts to publicise the Service, over the course of the pilot
awareness and use of the service among Members and their staff was low.
This was not unexpected as many MSPs have their own sources for obtaining
scientific information and advice and many subjects with scientific aspects are
reserved matters under the Scotland Act 1998.

Analysis of SPEIR user data shows that the SPSIS pages were accessed on
only 33 occasions over the course of the pilot, a very low hit rate compared to
other SPICe research pages. This is likely to be the result of a restructuring
of SPEIR several months ago, when the link to the SPSIS pages became less
obvious. The lesson here is that Members need to be made aware of the
SPSIS which would include giving the service greater transparency on the
Parliament’s intranet.

A total of 6 enquiries on scientific subjects received by SPICe from MSPs and

their staff were referred to Experts through the SPSIS. These are listed in
table 1 below.

Table 1: SPSIS Enquiries

Subject Date of Date due Date of
request response
Thermal Depolymerisation – 25/02/04 26/03/04 26/03/04
Environmental impact of waste treatment
Broadband in Scotland 19 /12/03 12/01/04 12/01/04
General Medical Council appeals 03/12/03 04/12/03 04/12/03
Toxins in tobacco smoke – Effectiveness 14/11/03 21/11/03 21/11/03
of ventilation
Wind farms 30/10/03 No 18/11/03
deadline
given
Alternatives to fishmeal for farmed 15/10/03 29/10/03 29/10/03
salmon

In all cases, the Topic Co-ordinators approached were happy to handle the
enquiry and provided a response within any deadline given.

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While MSPs were not necessarily aware that their enquiry was handled
through the SPSIS, those who responded to a follow-up questionnaire (N=3)
all said they were happy with the level and detail of response received. In
addition, respondents all stated that the SPSIS provided a valuable service to
themselves and to the Parliament.

SPICe researchers, particularly those working in environment subject areas,

also contacted Topic Co-ordinators on several occasions when preparing
briefings with scientific content. Though not recorded as enquiries, it is
estimated that this form of contact occurred 6 or 7 times with Experts
providing helpful advice and information on each occasion.

Table 2 below shows contacts from all sources received by Topic Co-
ordinators during the 12 month pilot.

Table 2: No of times Topic Co-ordinators contacted

Topic Co-ordinator No of Contacts Topic

through the
SPSIS
Professor S P Beaumont OBE 1 Broadband coverage in
FRSE Scotland
Professor M R Blatt FRSE 1
Professor I Fells CBE FREng 6 Renewable Energy
FRSE
Ms M P Henton FRSE 1 biomass fuels
Professor J A McGeough FRSE 1 Smoking in public
places
Professor A D McIntyre CBE 1 Alternative feed -
FRSE farmed salmon
Professor Q A McKellar FRSE 2
Professor A F Murray FRSE 3 Mobile phone radiation
& wind turbines

Total 16

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Responses from Topic Co-ordinators suggest that the SPSIS was used on at
least 16 occasions. This number will include enquiries from MSPs and their
staff filtered through both SPICe (shown in Table 1) and the RSC and
contacts by SPICe researchers to inform their briefings for MSPs.

Science Briefings
Another feature of the SPSIS pilot was the production of short (2 to 3 pages)
proactive briefings on scientific subjects of topical interest. These briefings
were written by Experts taking part in the scheme, edited by SPICe and
presented in electronic form on SPEIR and in hard copy in the Parliament’s
Information Centre. Three such briefings were produced over the course of
the pilot. These are listed in Table 3 below.

Table 3: SPICe Science Briefings

Briefing No Title
SSB 03-01 Tetra Radio System - Health Issues
SSB 03-02 GM Crops in Scotland
SSB 03-03 Toxins in Tobacco Smoke - Effectiveness of Air Filtration
and Ventilation Systems

Few MSPs or their staff were aware of or had accessed these briefings. In
addition, SPICe researchers were concerned that the format of the briefings
and the lack of author attribution could lead readers to the conclusion that
they were SPICe rather than external products.

Again, the lesson to be learned from this is that Members must be made
aware of these products and how to access them. Anecdotal evidence from
MSPs’ staff is that those who did ‘find’ these briefings on SPEIR found them
to be useful while others thought they would use them when briefing their
Member on that subject.

Feedback from Topic Coordinators and Experts

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The Royal Society of Edinburgh surveyed the 52 Topic Coordinators to
ascertain their views on the scheme after the initial year. Twenty out of fifty
two responded.

Most were surprised that they had received no requests for information.
However, no one indicated that they no longer wished to take part and many
were keen to play an active role.

Those who had been contacted wanted feedback on the information that they
did provide and how it was used. A system to feedback to Experts and Topic
Coordinators will be explored with SPICe.

One expert said that the subject he was requested to provide a briefing on
required considerable background briefing. He wanted to know how much
time they were expected to devote to such briefings. It is difficult to put a time
limit on such work as this will vary depending on the subject and the specific
nature of the enquiry. Experts should therefore inform RSC or SPICe if they
believe they cannot afford the time to prepare the briefing.

Another Coordinator commented positively on the anonymity an expert was

given which isolated them from a complaint from a member of the public. The
option of anonymity for experts should be maintained.

It was suggested by another that efforts should be made to establish why no

requests had been made on certain issues that they were expected on. It is
difficult to ascertain exactly why this is the case but the lack of awareness
about the overall service is likely to be the main reason. The service will
continue to be promoted through the usual SPICe and RSC channels and a
special mailshot to MSP constituency offices is also planned. The amount of
time it takes to prepare any briefing will vary depending on the subject.

Conclusions
While the SPSIS has not been extensively used since its inception, there is no
doubt that the concept is a good one. Parliaments and assemblies from other

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parts of the UK and from as far afield as the Russian Federation have
expressed interest in the idea of a scheme which encourages co-operation
between members of parliament and the scientific community and provides
politicians with free and impartial scientific advice. On those occasions the
scheme has been used it has been found to be valuable, and there is no
doubt that it will continue to be used. Experience shows that word of mouth is
often the best means of advertising a service within the Parliament, and it is
important that we continue to try and build up the scheme to a ‘critical mass’
where it can ‘take off’ and become more extensively used. Topic
Coordinators and Experts are willing to continue supporting the service and
are generally keen to encourage greater participation.

It is recommended, therefore, that the Scottish Parliament Science

Information Service is continued but that careful consideration be given to
improving the way the service is advertised and presented and to finding other
ways of promoting the scheme. Consideration should be given to whether
proactive briefings should be routinely produced and, if so, in what format. A
system of feedback for experts and Topic Coordinators will also be
investigated.