Sarah Castell

You don’t need opinion polls to know that few people nowadays trust their elected members or government. Casual conversations will have revealed the low opinion of decision-makers held by the average citizen, from the town hall to 10 Downing Street. But if you did consult some statistics, you’d find your hunch confirmed. The British Social Attitudes survey shows that a record high 45% of us “almost never” trust governments to put the nation’s interests first, up from 34% in 2019.

Most civil servants know all too well the joys and frustrations of being tasked with making the policies that can resolve whatever issues make up the departmental priority list. So often, there are no easy solutions to tough challenges and most recommendations are a compromise between the outcome that is desired and the resources at your disposal. In our current fiscal environment, hard choices are going to have to be made and taking the public on this journey will not be easy.

The UK government has stated its commitment to making our country a science and technology superpower, a hub for industry and an ecosystem for innovation. We have increased life sciences finance twelvefold since 2012 and £250m has recently been dedicated to research in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and engineering biology. All of this is aimed at securing the UK’s place as a global leader in these three areas.