UK Government Spending Review: Our asks for the Treasury
We are calling on Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves MP to invest in skills needed for future success in chemistry as part of the UK Government's Spending Review.
This includes supporting higher education institutions, ensuring the science curriculum remains relevant to future growth and enabling a sustainable chemicals and materials sector for better growth, jobs and public health.
The Spending Review will set out the UK Government’s spending priorities for the next three years. As part of the development process, the Royal Society of Chemistry submitted a response to the Treasury’s open portal calling for representations to stakeholders on what should be considered.
We are also urging members and supporters to write to their MPs to emphasise the importance of higher education and skills in realising chemistry's economic, social and environmental potential. Readers can find all our policy asks here.
Our broader policy asks
In our submission, we set out how the UK Government should enable and grow chemistry’s contribution to the economy, environment, and society. Through providing long-term certainty on research funding, advocating for an excellent chemistry education for that is up-to-date and relevant and investing in solutions for better chemical management for our environment.
You can read our full submission here.
Outlining our key asks, our Head of Policy and Evidence Tanya Sheridan said: "Chemistry is vital to the UK's future, driving innovation and contributing across growth sectors, including engineering biology. To harness its full potential, the Government must boost R&D investment, support international collaborations, attract top talent, and ensure our workforce has the right skills.
"This includes ensuring a long-term settlement for higher education that enables and ensures the provision of high-quality chemistry degrees in all regions. Additionally, we need to use the insights from science to develop appropriate chemicals strategy and drive the transition to a sustainable circular economy."
Meanwhile, Laura Daly, Education Programme Manager highlighted the importance of an up-to-date curriculum and fully funded pathways into a science career.
“This is an important time for chemistry education, with curriculum reviews taking place across the nations of the UK," she said.
"This is a real opportunity to make meaningful changes to the chemistry curriculum to ensure that it imparts knowledge, technical abilities and transferrable skills, highlights real-world concerns, and ultimately enables the full growth potential of chemistry sectors.
This is a real opportunity to make meaningful change to the chemistry curriculum to ensure that it imparts knowledge, technical and transferrable skills, highlights real-world concerns, and ultimately enables the full growth potential of chemistry sectors.
"The government also needs to provide funding certainty to crucial pathways into science, such as BTECs, to maximise the choice of progression opportunities for all young people and ensure the UK workforce is equipped with skills that are fit for the purpose for the modern world.
"Tying curriculum, skills and pathways together is the education workforce. We’re looking for the government to commit fully to their manifesto pledge to address the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, and ensure those teachers in the profession are supported with access to subject-specific CPD.
"To help support schools to develop crucial practical science skills needed for the future workforce, we want to see government provide sufficient funding for science technicians, alongside a review of their pay and conditions.”
Our campaign
One consequence of the financial issues impacting UK universities has been several closures of chemistry departments or dramatic reductions in teaching and research provision in chemistry.
We are very concerned that chemistry degrees may become inaccessible to many people in areas without a university offering chemistry degree programmes, squandering individuals’ potential and a real opportunity for economic and jobs growth.
Research gathered for our Future Workforce and Educational Pathways report shows chemistry jobs are projected to grow by 6.5% in a decade, which is 30% faster than the average growth rate for the UK workforce.
To realise this huge opportunity and the technologies for a green and healthy future, we will need skilled people to do these jobs, with the digital and green skills employers are increasingly demanding.
In the lead-up to the Spending Review, we are calling on the Government to urgently address the financial sustainability of higher education institutions to maintain the strength of the chemical sciences and enable research and development to unleash its full potential.
Examine our data pack (which is in a PDF format) and learn more about the key numbers and issues affecting chemistry in higher education.
As part of our campaign leading up to the Spending Review in Spring, we are asking supporters to get involved by writing to their MP highlighting the importance of higher education and skills in achieving the Government’s growth missions. You can support our campaign via the link below.
Please write to your newly elected MPs to ask them to support the issues that matter to our community.