The UK's Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has welcomed Chancellor George Osborne's budget. According to Prof. David Phillips, President of the RSC, Osborne's 'budget for growth' is to be welcomed as a much needed boost for science and enterprise.
The chancellor's growth-boosting initiatives - such as the creation of 21 new Enterprise Zones and R&D tax credits for small businesses rising 200 percent - will be much needed by the industry as the UK slowly emerges from recession, RSC has pointed out. There will be a £100 million boost for science with investment in new centres in Cambridge, Norwich, Harwell and Daresbury, funded from the bank levy.
However, under the new initiatives laid out by the Chancellor, science teaching funding is being slashed by three-quarters, research funding falls by more than £17 million and capital spend plummets from £158 million to £53 million. Also, the immigration cap limiting the number of scientists coming to the UK is coming into force next month.
The Chancellor also announced that he will 'radically reduce' the time it takes for life sciences companies to gain approval for clinical trials.
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