The Office of Science and Technology (OST) produced a paper in July 2000 entitled 'A Consultation Document on a Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees.' Members were asked to comment on this paper at the meeting in October 2000. OST reviewed the comments received and produced a revised paper in March 2001 entitled 'Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees: Draft for Second Round.' Points brought up by the committee are addressed in this second draft, namely:

1. The difficulty in publishing full minutes within 3 weeks of the meeting.

This point has been addressed in paragraph 71, page 15. The Code of Practice now states that minutes should be approved by the committee at the following meeting and published "as soon as possible thereafter." Or "where meetings are infrequent, committees should develop written procedures to ensure that the minutes can be agreed and published more expeditiously."

2. The concern over unpublished material discussed in meetings being prematurely forced into the public domain.

Paragraph 78, on page 16, has been included. It states that: "Where a committee's disclosure of information would involve bringing into the public domain previously unpublished research, it should be sensitive to whether this could hinder the process of formal publication elsewhere and, if so, endeavour to negotiate arrangements which avoid the problem (such as parallel publication)."

3. The issue of how individual members should respond to queries from the press.

This is addressed in paragraph 93, page 18, which states that committees should decide who should represent them to the media, and should establish rules of conduct about whether other members are permitted to give briefings. Members are permitted to express their own views but should make it clear that this is a personal view, and not the official view of the committee.

Members are asked to comment on these changes. Individual suggestions or comments can be sent directly to OST at the address below. The deadline is 12:00pm on Tuesday 26 June 2001.
Dr D Coles
Room 1/7 Albany House
Office of Science and Technology
94-98 Petty France
London SW1H 9ST

COMEAP Secretariat June 2001