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The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, (POST) is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's in-house source of independent, balanced and accessible analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology. POST serves both Houses of Parliament (the House of Commons, and the House of Lords), through output that is apolitical and of potential value to Parliamentarians of all parties. Thorough quality-control ensures that MPs and Peers can have confidence in the information should they wish to cite it in debate. These principles are reflected in the structure of POST’s Board with members from the Commons and Lords together with distinguished scientists and engineers from the wider world. ==History== Since 1939, a group of MPs and peers interested in science and technology, through the first parliamentary "All Party Group", the UK Parliamentary and Scientific Committee (P&S), had encouraged UK Parliamentarians to explore the implications of scientific developments for society and public policy. As the UK economy became more dependent on technological progress, and the negative effects of technology (especially on the environment) became more apparent, it was felt that UK Parliament needed its own resources on such issues. Parliamentarians not only required access to knowledge and insights into the implications of technology for their constituents and society, but also needed to exercise their scrutiny functions over legislation and administration. This thinking was also influenced by the fact that specialised parliamentary science and technology organisations already existed overseas. P&S members (Sir Ian Lloyd MP, Sir Trevor Skeet MP, Sir Gerry Vaughan MP, Lords Kennet, Gregson and Flowers among others) visited already established organisations in the US, Germany and France, and this reinforced their view that modern Parliaments needed their own ‘intelligence’ on science and technology-related issues. Initially they asked the then Thatcher government to fund such services at Westminster but were asked first to demonstrate a real need. This led to the P&S creating a charitable foundation to raise funds from P&S members. POST began with a very modest staff, initially one Research & Operations Manager, Hazel Parrock née Starmer, who established the office, set up processes and procedures and wrote the first few briefing papers as Proofs of Concept on subjects including Human Embryo Research, The Brain Drain, CERN Funding Yes or No. The reaction was sufficiently positive to be able to recruit a Director, Professor Michael Norton, on 1 April 1989 and POST was formally established, attracting more resources by 1992 and then recruiting 3 specialist science advisers, beginning its fellowship programme with the UK research councils. In 1992 the House of Commons Information Committee, later supported by the House of Lords, recommended that Parliament should fund POST for 3 years, and a subsequent review in 1995 extended this for a further 5 years. This was the result of POST demonstrating real interest and demand from MPs and peers. From 1997 the chair of the POST board was appointed by government Whips. Previous chairs have been Dr Ian Gibson MP 1997-2001, Dr Phyllis Starkey MP 2001-2005, and Dr Ashok Kumar MP 2005-2010. In 1998 Professor David Cope took over as Director of POST. In 2001 both Houses decided that POST should be established as a permanent bicameral institution. In 2009 POST celebrated its 20th anniversary with a special conference on "Images of the Future". The keynote participants were the Hon. Bart Gordon, Chair of the US House of Representatives' Committee on Science and Technology and Dr Jim Dator of the University of Hawaii Futures Research Centre. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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