Guidelines on independent science advice should become part of the recommended code of conduct for ministers in the wake of sacking of David Nutt and the subsequent science-advice row, says the UK’s parliamentary science committee.

The government is currently reviewing its principles on independent scientific advice – a move that follows its sacking of psychopharmacologist Nutt, who was then chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). Including the new guidelines in the Ministerial Code would be a step up from the situation now. At the moment, the guidelines on scientific advice are included only in codes of practice for civil servants and science advisers themselves.

In its new report, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee also broadly supports a set of principles for the treatment of independent scientific advice that was put forward by leading researchers including Martin Rees, the president of the Royal Society. These include respect for academic freedom of advisers and their right to disagree with government policy, as well as the principle that scientific advice be properly considered by government – and explicit reasons be given if such advice is rejected.