Prospect Head of Research Sue Ferns said: "We welcome the recommendations for a strengthened role and extra resources for the government’s chief scientific adviser, but we also want to see a Cabinet minister responsible for science, and a similar role in the devolved administrations.

"Our members share the committee’s concerns over the impact of privatisation on core scientific capability and believe urgent action is needed to address this issue. Prospect’s science briefings have shown that hundreds of jobs have already been cut. Until the government establishes the database of scientific and engineering staff called for by the committee it will not even know what expertise is being lost."

The union also strongly supports the call to properly reward and incentivise scientific skills and enhance career progression for public sector scientists, said Ferns adding that Prospect would welcome an opportunity to work with heads of the science professions to take forward these proposals.

The report echoes many of the recommendations contained in the union’s own charter for public sector science, details of which are available from a link on the homepage.