Departmental Chief Scientific Advisers

Business, Innovation and Skills written question – answered at on 13 October 2011.

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Photo of Chi Onwurah Chi Onwurah Shadow Minister (Business, Innovation and Skills)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the salary, including benefits, was of his Department's chief scientific adviser in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many individuals have held the post in the last five years.

Photo of David Willetts David Willetts Minister of State (Universities and Science)

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was created in June 2009 following a machinery of government change which merged the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).

Professor Brian Collins was appointed as the first BERR chief scientific adviser in May 2008 and he became the BIS chief scientific adviser (CSA) following the machinery of government changes. DIUS did not have a CSA. Professor Collins left BIS in May 2011 at the end of his three year appointment. BIS has recently undergone an internal restructuring and an open competition is currently under way to select a new CSA.

Professor Collins was paid within the pay range of a the senior civil service pay band 2 which is currently £82,900 to £162,500.

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