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Cuts avoided at UK parliament’s science advice unit

Protests led by two former British science ministers have prevented threatened budget cuts at the UK parliament’s in-house science briefings service, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).

Two weeks ago, policy-makers worried that cuts to House of Commons library services would all be loaded on to POST, lopping some 17% from its £570,000 (US$913,000) budget. But after a debate in the House of Commons, and a campaign led by the London-based science lobby group, the Campaign for Science and Engineering, POST’s chair Adam Afriyie says the budget is secure to April 2015. “Supporting parliamentarians’ work through POST is absolutely critical to improving understanding of science and technology issues in Parliament,” Afriyie said.

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