Greg Clark, the UK's minister of state for universities, science and cities, has clarified the status of the government chief scientific advisers after a report by the Government Office for Science said they were "semi independent".
Clark wrote to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on 19 March to respond to a question he was unable to answer when called before the committee in person on 10 March.
The question related to a change to the documentation describing the status of government CSAs: rather than being described as providing “independent challenge” to the use of science in their departments, a document published in February, Chief Scientific Advisers and their Officials: An introduction, described them as providing “semi-independent” challenge.
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