While recognising that the merger of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) and the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) will signal funding for equipment, the union is calling on the government not to lose sight of the other essential projects undertaken by the research councils or the staff concerned.

Prospect director of research Sue Ferns said: "Today’s decision has implications over scientific output. For example, absorbing PPARC into a new research council would inevitably raise questions over the future of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC) at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.

"Despite its excellent record, ATC would be seen as a small partner to CCLRC’s much larger science and innovation campuses in Harwell and Daresbury, with the risk that its unique research focus will be lost.

"Experience shows that when research facilities are subsumed into larger bodies, such as the Horticulture Research International’s move to the University of Warwick, they lose their identity and the specialist work they undertake can fall by the wayside."

"Our members also have wider concerns that the new council will presage further cuts in funding for physical sciences and the early haemorrhage of key staff from the research councils concerned. Research indicates that once a facility closes, very few of the staff find similar alternative employment."

The union is calling for a balance between funding for equipment and staff and for the government to ensure sufficient scientific posts remain to retain and develop public sector scientists.