Stephen Metcalfe, MP for South Basildon & East Thurrock, sponsored Evidence Week in Parliament and got the latest real-time evidence on the economic picture of the UK.
Stephen Metcalfe joined top researchers on 5 July in Parliament to receive rapid-fire briefings on pressing policy issues, including housing, food supplies, energy, health and tackling inequality.
Mr Metcalfe spoke to researchers from the University of Nottingham and used their “Track the economy” tool to get unique data on South Basildon and East Thurrock. Additionally, Mr Metcalfe discussed with the Office for National Statistics the importance of timely data-sharing, which is essential for organisations who need access to reliable population and migration statistics.
Other new insights included University College London’s development of “digital twins”, digitised replicas of a patient’s anatomy, which can speed up diagnosis and effective treatment. “Digital twins” also have the potential to make medical research much more accessible to the public.
Evidence Week in Parliament is a unique event bringing together MPs, researchers, and the public to discuss how the evidence used to make policy decisions is scrutinised.
Stephen Metcalfe said: “MPs do not need a scientific background to scrutinise evidence, but we should take a scientific approach and be ready to ask the right questions – helping to identify what works, what does not, and where vital information is missing.”
Evidence Week, now in its sixth year, is run by the campaigning charity, Sense about Science, and the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology, in partnership with the House of Commons Library, House of Lords Library, Ipsos, the Office for Statistics Regulation and researcher institutions from across the UK. During the week, MPs meet with leading scientists to get the latest insights on pressing issues covering topics as varied as housing, food supplies, energy, health and inequality. It is an opportunity for the public, parliamentarians, and researchers to come together to share knowledge and insights. It empowers legislators to engage with evidence and equips them with the critical tools to handle uncertainty, identify bias and scrutinise underlying assumptions.
Tracey Brown, Director of Sense about Science, said: “Evidence matters to people in all walks of life, so I am sure many constituents will welcome Stephen Metcalfe’s public commitment to evidence-informed policymaking. Evidence Week in Parliament gives MPs a fresh perspective on tricky policy questions with the latest insights from top UK researchers, to help them make better decisions on everything from energy policy to cybersecurity.”
According to a representative survey of 1,078 adults in Great Britain by Ipsos and Sense about Science released this week for Evidence Week 2023, only a third or less of people think MPs are equipped to ask the Government the right questions about evidence on critical policy areas including the use of Artificial Intelligence (26% confident versus 60% not confident), energy policy (31% confident versus 60% not confident), healthcare (33% confident versus 59% not confident), the economy (34% confident versus 57% not confident) and climate change (30% confident versus 60% not confident).
Around half of Britons continue to think politicians pay too little attention to evidence (7% too much, 51% too little, 24% about right, 19% don’t know) or to public opinion (15% too much, 54% too little, 20% about right, 12% don’t know), while 1 in 3 think they pay too much attention to what they think is right (35% too much, 25% too little, 24% about right, 16% don’t know).
