Image: Marshaj2020 [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Neil Ferguson: Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies would be “more nimble” if it were independent
A prominent former attendee of meetings of the UK government’s main science advice body Sage, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, has suggested that the group should be made independent of the government.
Neil Ferguson (pictured), a professor of epidemiology at Imperial College London whose modelling played a key role in informing the UK government’s response to the pandemic, told the Financial Times’ Payne’s Politics podcast on 7 August that the co-chairs of Sage—chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty—are government employees and therefore not “completely independent”.
“They are constrained in quite what they can say and do in public by their positions,” he said. “Other countries have, in some sense, appointed completely independent people in those roles.”
Currently, scientific advice from various committees filters through Sage and is then presented to ministers by the group’s two co-chairs, Vallance and Whitty.
Pandemic inquiry
Ferguson said he thinks a public inquiry into the response to the Covid-19 pandemic will consider “who gets to talk to ministers, because I certainly never did, and basically none of the scientists actually on these committees have directly talked to the politicians—it all goes though those two positions”.
He suggested that the inquiry, expected to launch in spring 2022, should look into “whether that can be opened up in a way to give a better sense of…direct connection between the people doing the research and people making the decisions” because “it might lead to more nimble decision-making in crises”.
The FT report noted that such views are shared by some other prominent science experts.
A spokesperson for the health department did not address the specific questions about Sage’s independence, but said Whitty and Vallance “are experts in their fields with extensive academic and clinical experience”.
“They, among others, have played a vital role providing independent advice to the government throughout this pandemic, drawing on the latest data and evidence,” the spokesperson said.
Research Professional News has approached the Government Office for Science for comment.